Doing What's Right Reloaded
by negative 97
Summary: Lisa Lavender, a close correspondent with law enforcement, was always happy to get useful information to the public whether it be warning them about breaches in the wall by Grimm, the whereabouts on Roman's Gang, or the activities of the White Fang. The situation she was about to get wrapped in, however, might prove to be too much for her, but she would endure.
1. Chapter 1 Just Another Day

Ch.1

Just Another Day

_RWBY is the property of its respective owners, Ocs belong to me_

Releasing a breathe and seeing it form into a white mist in front of her due to the cold, Lisa Lavender hugged her trench coat close to her body and adjusted her baseball cap as she walked down the brightly lit street in the dead of night. True, she was at risk from all sorts of threats, particularly muggers, delinquents looking for any reason to fight, and the more...unsavory elements, but the tip she received was too good to pass up so she ventured onward to her destination. Besides, she had her hardballer in her chest holster and her ballpoint pen knives in her breast pocket if worse came to worse. After what seemed like an eternity of subtly looking over her shoulder due to feeling like she was being watched, made it to the nightclub where she got the tip and walked up to the bouncers.

"ID please," one of the axe wielding thugs asked while extending his hand to the reporter who fished her wallet out of her pocket and showed the item in question to the bouncer who raised a brow and glanced at Lisa as if she grew a second head, but gestured for her to go in anyway. Nodding, Lisa entered the nightclub and was immediately bombarded be deafening dubstep and thunderous hip hop making her wince, but kept her composure as she made her way to the bar.

"Hi, I'm L.L.; the Twins asked me to come here for my...package," Lisa discreetly told the bartender who nodded and gave the reporter a glass of water on the house before walking away causing Lisa to meticulously and subtly inspect the water for any drugs. Giving an experimental sniff of the drink, Lisa deemed it to be fine and drank a little bit of it as she leaned against the bar counter and waited for her informants while wondering why they wanted to meet up here all of all places. Suddenly, a young woman wearing a snow white dress and a garish amount of makeup took the seat on her left while another young woman who looked exactly the same as the other save for wearing a blood red dress took the seat on her right leaving Lisa boxed in like a rat.

"Ballpoint pen knives? You would have been better off with a switchblade in my opinion," the young woman wearing the snow white dress remarked as she set the hidden weapons on the bar counter causing Lisa to widen her eyes and check her breast pocket to find that her trick weapons had been lifted without her noticing.

"A hardballer pistol chambered for 10 mm rounds and equipped with small dust crystals; clever," the other young woman stated as she set the pistol down on the counter and gently slid it over to Lisa whose expression all but said "How did you even get that!?" Shrugging, the young woman wearing the blood red dress held up a hand to reveal sharp, metallic crimson claws and gestured at the back of Lisa's trench coat causing the reporter to look over her shoulder and felt her blood run as cold as a blizzard when she saw that a hole had been precisely cut in not only the trench coat, but the bottom of her holster as well.

"I'm assuming you two are the Twins who gave me the tip?" Lisa cautiously asked as while she kept up the facade that she was as cool as a cucumber, inwardly she felt like curling into a ball and it showed as let slip a slight tremble as she grabbed her weapons.

"We are, and here's your package," the young woman wearing the snow white dress answered as she slipped an envelope to Lisa and took a swig of the ginger ale the bartender gave her while watching the reporter like a hawk. Discreetly opening the envelope, Lisa widened her eyes when she saw a copious amount of photos of Roman Torchwick, his bodyguard Neo, and a whole assortment of White Fang soldiers raiding warehouses and making off with shipping containers full of dust. Seeing a scroll in the envelope, Lisa pulled it out and saw that it's only file was a video causing to warily open the file and what played out was Roman talking to a voluptuous woman in a red dress, a young man who bore a striking resemblance to the late Marcus Black, and a green haired woman with piercing, predatory red eyes. As the video progressed, Lisa jolted when she saw the amber eyed woman's show of force by conjuring a bright ball of fire in her hand and felt a chill go down her spine when she heard that another heist was going to happen at the docks soon.

"_I need to get this to the police,"_ Lisa thought as she reached into her trench coat and handed the envelope full of lien to the bouncer in the snow white dress who opened it and carefully counted the currency before nodding in approval.

"So, does the VNN approve of this...transaction?" the bouncer inquired to which Lisa shook her head as the bartender gave her a new trench coat and holster at the bouncer's urging to replace the old ones causing the reporter to thank them.

"No, the only way I was able to pay for this is by using the bonus I got from the article I wrote on Roman's Gang," Lisa replied to which the twins grunted, but otherwise said nothing but "Well, if you need to know things that you can't get through legitimate means, you come to us again...provided you can pay for it, of course." to which the reporter nodded and exited the club while quickly making her way to the police station.

"_This is big; now I at least somewhat know how the White Fang exploded in recruitment rates and why they have top of the line gear and soon, everyone will know too. I just need to get this to Chief Asher and then he can get a SWAT team down to the docks to prepare for the White Fang," _Lisa surmised as turned the corner and after walking for a little while longer, saw the police station in sight making her breathe a sigh of relief. However, she gasped when she felt herself being lifted up into the air by an invisible force and tugged into a poorly lit building save for a single light bulb making her look over her shoulder at her assailant...and tilted her head when she saw saw it was a key staff member of Beacon Academy.

"Mrs. Goodwitch, why did you bring me here?" Lisa asked while narrowing her eyes at the battle instructor who shut the door, locked it, and gestured at the table in the middle of the room causing Lisa to pull up a chair and sit down.

"Not to harm you in case that's what you're thinking, but rather to relieve you of the information you're holding," Glynda, in typical, blunt fashion, replied making the reporter unconsciously tighten her grip on the envelope as her suspicion turned into outright scorn as she glowered at the woman across the table whose frown didn't even waver.

"W-what!? No, the police need to know about this! Chief Asher can get the SWAT team down by the docks and when the White Fang comes, they can ambush them and capture Roman! Think of the things he could tell us!" Lisa vehemently protested making Glynda clasp her hands together and lean forward where stared at the reporter dead in the eyes.

"Yes, we could, but who's to say that they won't know an ambush is awaiting them and if the SWAT team is capable of apprehending him in the first place? Even more, have you considered that maybe he's just another piece on the board rather than the brains behind this operation?" Glynda pointed out causing Lisa to snort as she recalled from the video how Roman met up with three of his associates to discuss the dock heist.

"I have, and even if that's the case, we can't just stand here and do nothing while he steals an entire shipment of dust!" Lisa nearly shouted as all Glynda did was push her glasses up the bridge of her nose before sighing softly and discreetly tightening her grip on her riding crop which didn't go unnoticed by the reporter.

"That is not what we're going to do, Mrs. Lavender. This situation can be solved without causing an unnecessary brouhaha and that's what we're going to do. If all goes well, you'll merely be reporting the aftermath of a short, failed heist," Glynda assured Lisa who resisted the great, overwhelming urge to yell ever conceivable curse she could think of at the battle instructor, but simply snarled under her breathe.

"I'm sorry, but no. The police need to know about this so I'm going to walk out that door and give them the information I'm holding. If you stop me, I will press charges against you for assault and kidnapping which will get your huntress license suspended or even worse, revoked," Lisa calmly, but firmly told the witch who grunted, but otherwise said nothing as the reporter got up from her chair and walked over to the door. Just as she was about to unlock it, she felt herself being lifted up into the air yet again by the invisible force.

"Are you kidding me!? Didn't you just hear what I said would happen if you did this!?" Lisa shouted incredulously as she felt her ankles being bound together by invisible hands and her wrists being restrained by unseen shackles as Glynda slowly walked toward her.

"I did, Mrs. Lavender; I'm sorry it had to come to this. You're more than welcome to go to the docks yourself, wait for the White Fang to come, and then tell the police, but I can't have you disrupting the calm that's fallen over Vale," Glynda informed Lisa as she reached into her trench coat and pulled out the envelope causing Lisa to struggle with all her might to free herself from her invisible restraints to no avail. All Lisa could do was glare at Glynda who unlocked the door with her semblance and walked into the darkness with the envelope in hand and after what seemed like an eternity, Lisa finally felt herself being released and landed on the ground.

"You'll answer for this! You hear me!?" Lisa shouted into the void, but all she get in response was silence causing her to run out of the building and meticulously search for Glynda, but could find no trace of her.

"_How did she...it's not important. I need to tell Chief Asher about this," _Lisa resolved to do as she walked out of the building and speed walked toward the police station and entered it where she was greeted by the receptionist.

"Go on in, Lisa. Chief's expecting you in his office," the receptionist told the reporter while electronically unlocking the side door causing the reporter to nod gratefully and walked through the side door where she was frisked by the guards as usual. Feeling a little less safer when her hardballer and ballpoint pen knives were taken away for the time being, Lisa pushed such thoughts aside and walked down the hall while curtly, but politely greeting any officer she came across. Finally, she came across Chief Asher's door and knocked on it where she was granted permission to enter and found him drinking a glass of ginger ale like he always did.

"Good to see you, Lisa. Do you have the information?" Chief Asher asked while gesturing at the seat across from his desk causing Lisa to sigh heavily, shake her head, and sit down.

"I did, but Glynda Goodwitch kidnapped me and took it," Lisa replied with a huff causing the lawman to grip his glass so tightly that it broke making the reporter jolt as shards of glass fell to the floor.

"What, why would she...that son of a bitch. I'm going to call Ozpin and get this sorted out; meanwhile, fill out this form if you want to press charges," Chief Asher stated as he gently handed Lisa a piece of paper, aggressively grabbed his phone, and violently punched in the number to Beacon Academy.

"Hello, this is Chief Asher of the Valean Police! I want to speak Ozpin right now!" Chief Asher yelled at the top of his lungs to the unfortunate receptionist on the other line while Lisa simultaneously filled out the form while listening for the conversation about to unfold.

"What do you mean he's busy!? He always has time to talk that drunk bastard, that know it all bitch, and that dumbass war hawk so he'd damn well better make time for me!" the lawman roared making Lisa feel sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of her friend's tirade though she wasn't surprised when she heard the call disconnect.

"Hello? Hello!? Damn it; alright, that's it. If he won't listen to me, then he'll listen to the council," Chief Asher growled under his breathe as he poured himself and Lisa a glass of ginger ale and slid the cup over to her causing the reporter to thank him and lift the glass up to her lips.

"There's no need for that, Chief," a voice suddenly interjected making Lisa nearly jump in her chair and just turned her head to the source of the noise where she saw Beacon's headmaster being presented by a projected facecam from Asher's scroll.

"There damn well is! One of your attack dogs kidnapped one of my informants and then took a package that could have helped us prevent a crime before it happened! This is the last straw, Ozpin! I'm reporting you to the council and hopefully, they'll give me permission to arrest you!" Chief Asher boomed as Lisa just watched with a neutral expression on her face as this was the first time she had actually seen Beacon's headmaster technically in person.

"Forgive me, Chief, but I couldn't allow you and your men to make a mess of things as they usually do in these kinds of situations which can be solved with a quieter, more precise approach. You are more than welcome to report me to the council, but I still have their backing despite our strained relationship so nothing will happen beyond a warning," Ozpin calmly pointed out causing the chief to scoff and retort with "Making a mess? Your damn kids make more of a mess than my boys do."

"Maybe so, but I digress. You and your men are welcome to engage and apprehend any White Fang soldiers you subdue, but you are to let Roman Torchwick go," Ozpin ordered calmly causing Chief Asher's jaw to drop and look at Ozpin as if he grew a second head while Lisa snarled under her breathe.

"Now I know you've lost your mind! Why would we let that scumbag go when we have the perfect opportunity to catch him!?" the lawman thundered with Lisa subtly nodding in agreement as she just couldn't fathom why a huntsman like Ozpin would do such a thing as the headmaster clasped his hands and narrowed his eyes.

"Because Torchwick is merely a piece on the board, not the mastermind herself. If we track where his heists are occurring, we may find a pattern to them which can lead us to not only his base of operations, but the names and locations of his associates as well," Ozpin reasoned, but Asher wasn't convinced and neither was Lisa as the chief angrily swirled his cup around causing some of the liquid to fly out of the cup.

"Or we can just arrest that piece of shit and make him cough up whatever we want. I'm not risking my men and especially the civilians for this insane gamble you're trying to pull off," Chief Asher responded gruffly causing the headmaster to sigh softly, shake his head, and look the police chief dead in the eye.

"I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be and if you interfere with that, I will report _you_ to the council for incompetence and given your standing with them, the penalties will be severe. Namely, Mrs. Lavender will be put under house arrest for several months for vigilantism and you will be suspended from the force...possibly indefinitely," Ozpin coolly, but ruthlessly informed Asher who wanted nothing more than to choke the huntsman with his own scarf while Lisa had half a mind to punch him on his nose.

"However, it's like Glynda said; Mrs. Lavender is more than welcome to find a spot near the docks, scope the situation out, and tell us where we would best be able to enter the situation so we could put a quick end to it," Ozpin said in a much softer, genial tone before the ending the call causing Asher to slam his cup down on his desk and let out a guttural curse as Lisa reluctantly handed him the filled out form to which the chief helplessly shrugged.

"Sorry Lisa, I think that form is useless now," Asher told his friend with a slight huff causing the reporter to nod as she figured as much as the lawman poured himself another glass of ginger ale and downed it in one gulp.

"God damn huntsman; where does he get off talking to us like that?" the lawman growled as he poured Lisa another glass of ginger ale to which she thanked him and took a sip from it while thinking of how they could make the most of this situation.

"I don't think he's doing it because he likes seeing us squirm though it does feel like it. In either case, we're unfortunately going to have to play his game if we want to get anything done. Do you have any places in mind in which I can scope out of the docks?" Lisa inquired while downing the rest of her drink and setting the glass on the table causing the lawman to nod and bring up a projected, holographic map of the docks and the surrounding area from his scroll.

"The apartment complex provides a near perfect image of the area from either the roof or the rooms in the fifth floor and onward, but should something happen, it's going to take us a short while to get to you given how cramped the hallways are," Chief Asher reasoned causing Lisa to nod and put a hand on her chin as the lawman then pointed out the various business complexes near the docks which overlooked the target area.

"If you choose any of the businesses, it won't provide as good a vantage point, but if a firefight break outs, you'll be more likely to get away," Chief Asher continued causing Lisa to rub her chin as she meticulously considered all the variables she could think of from how much soldiers Torchwick would bring to how Ozpin's operatives would work with them, if at all.

"Can you get me set up in the apartment complex? We don't have much time to act so we're going to have to take a risk," Lisa surmised causing the lawman to slowly nod and grab his phone while pulling out the appropriate paper work.

"Agreed, I'll get everything set up and then pick you up. Don't worry, I'll position my men near the docks so if you call for help, we'll be nearby. Still, it pisses me off that Ozpin isn't letting us set up a proper ambush," Asher grumbled causing Lisa to sympathetically pat his shoulder before walking out of the office and mulling over what went down, especially Ozpin's hard line stance against Asher trying to convince him to apprehend Roman to no avail. Unbeknownst to her, Asher, and the entire department, a lone figure managed to hear their conversation and retreated from her position behind the wall near Asher's office without being seen. Waiting until she was back on the motorboat she came on positioned in a blind spot in the dock's security cameras, the figure began to slowly drive across the water while calling her superior on her scroll.

"Hey Deshret, you'll never guess what I found out during my scouting mission," the figure said with an ever so slight smirk tugging at the corner of her lips though one would be hard pressed to see it due to the surgical mask she was wearing.

"_I'm all ears," _Deshret stated to which the figure cleared her throat, did a quick scan of the area to see if she was being watched and was relieved when she wasn't, and spoke.

"Turns out Ozpin and the police know about the heist we're going to pull off a few days from now and Asher is being ordered by Ozpin to let Torchwick go if things go fubar. Hell, he's not even allowed to set up an ambush for us and the best he can do is rely on Lisa Lavender to help him scope out the situation," the figure informed her superior with a slight laugh making Deshret lowly chuckle where the figure could practically see the gears turning in her superior's head.

"_Then that gives us more time to act though we'll still have to act fast due to the enemy knowing we're coming. Do you know if Ozpin is sending any huntsman?" _Deshret inquired causing the figure to sigh softly and could only shake her head though she knew her superior couldn't see it as the figure reached up and lightly scratched her eye covered by a black cloth with the old White Fang insignia covering it.

"I don't know, but that's most likely going to happen," the figure reasoned to which Deshret agreed and sighed softly.

"_Agreed, return to base for now and try not to let anyone spot you. Not because I'm worried of the consequences, but because being reprimanded will waste precious preparation time," _Deshret stated to which the figure raised a brow, stop paddling, look over her shoulder at Vale which was still relatively near by, and put a hand on her hip.

"Are you sure? I could always kidnap Lisa since I'm here; it would be one less threat to worry about," the figure pointed out while thumping her fingers against the grip of her sawed off shotgun and then mindlessly tossed the softball shaped bludgeon of her meteor hammer into the air.

"_I agree, but it would be too obvious who the culprit is if we kidnapped her now. Let them think they have the element of surprise on their side and return to base; I need to prepare you, Wilma, and Ashanti for combating huntsman level opponents," _Deshret told her subordinate who sighed softly, but agreed with what her superior said as she ended the call and drove back to base with no one the wiser.

* * *

Sighing, Lisa ran a hand over her face as she inspected the docks for what seemed like the umpteenth time from the roof with her camera this early in the morning and glanced at the near perfectly hand drawn map she made. If the White Fang was going to come by land, they would have to cut through the adjacent neighborhoods and the downtown district which would slow down both their assault and escape. If they were going to come by air, they would have to do so from the expanse of forest across the water from the docks as anything else would have easily given them away. By water, they could come by boat, but any bystander, let alone any random dock worker, would have spotted them long before they reached their destination. However, they could send scuba divers ahead of the main force, disable whatever remained of security, inform their comrades that it was safe to come ahead, and then begin the heist. The scenario wasn't too unlikely as there were recorded instance of the White Fang having aquatic faunus among them like sharks, whales, dolphins and fish, but it was still out of the ordinary.

Still, she didn't put it past the White Fang to just brazenly go through the front door metaphorically speaking even with their new gear and discipline which would alert anyone within close proximity of the docks who would then call the police. Releasing a breathe, Lisa was about to contact Chief Asher to give him an update on the situation...until she saw a girl with a black bow laying in the brush inspecting the docks as well. Raising a brow, Lisa contacted Chief Asher while never taking her eyes off of mystery girl.

"Chief, there's this girl with a black bow inspecting the docks from the brush and...wait, a guy with blonde hair and a monkey tail joined her," Lisa informed the lawman who was silent for a moment as if he was taking it all in before responding.

"_...You think they're White Fang?" _Asher finally asked after an awkward pause which Lisa understood as she herself rubbed the back of her head and saw the duo talking, but was unable to hear them.

"I...I don't want to stereotype, but how many people are just suspiciously scoping out an area from a hidden vantage point besides me at the moment?" Lisa pointed out to which the lawman grunted and for a moment, the other line went silent as the chief of police considered if it was worth it to send out a unit to check on what could be just delinquents out for petty thrills.

"_I get what you mean; I'll ask one of my boys who are off duty to go check them out. Hopefully this is all just a big misunderstanding," _Asher responded causing Lisa to thank him and go back to inspecting mystery girl and her companion...only for mystery girl to suddenly turn her head and glower at Lisa through her camera. Letting out a small gasp, Lisa nearly dropped her camera and when she brought up to bear again, she saw mystery girl was gone, but her friend was still there waving to himself for some reason. Widening her eyes, Lisa brandished her hardballer and turned on a dime only for mystery girl to bash it out her hands with a stinging kick to her wrist making Lisa hiss before quickly unfurling the hidden blade in her ballpoint pen.

Swiping at the girl in the black bow, mystery girl contemptuously parried the blow with her sheathe and smacked Lisa on the ear with the flat of her blade causing the journalist to nearly double over from the loss of equilibrium. When she felt her assailant grab her, Lisa stabbed her foe's shoulder which connected, but all this did was make mystery girl grunt as she cleared Lisa's arm away when she went for a follow up slash to her belly and kicked the reporter in the crotch. Feeling her pupils shrink, Lisa sucked in a breathe and fell onto her knees, but not before slugging the girl with the black bow in the gut making her assailant grimace before knocking Lisa onto her back and sitting on her chest.

"Why were you-" mystery girl began to say only to wince as Lisa grabbed a handful of her hair, elbowed her across the face, and when she was reeling, connected with a headbutt to the nose. Snarling, the girl in the black bow stomped on Lisa's wrist which pinned it to the ground, pressed her leg down on Lisa's other arm so she couldn't move it, and clamped her hand over Lisa's mouth so she couldn't call for help.

"Now I'm going to ask again, why were you watching us?" mystery girl questioned while pointing the tip of her katana at Lisa's face making the reporter sweat slightly as the girl in the black bow removed her hand from her mouth.

"How do I know you're not with the White Fang?" Lisa asked while narrowing her eyes at mystery girl causing mystery girl to glare at her, take out her scroll, and cycle through her apps.

"Does this answer your question?" mystery girl curtly stated while showing her Beacon Academy student ID to the reporter who inspected it and widened her eyes when she saw the last name of her assailant.

"Belladonna? As in Ghira Belladonna, former High Leader of the White Fang?" Lisa inquired to which mystery girl nodded slowly and pointed her katana away from the reporter, but was still ready to attack if she felt there was a need for it.

"That's right, I'm his daughter," the girl in the black bow answered with a sense of subdued pride, but all this got was a glower from Lisa who struggled in her grasp only to wince as Blake put more pressure on her limbs to keep her pinned.

"Then your father would be ashamed of you; I've heard about your activities while working with Adam Taurus and even reported the aftermath of some of those incidents. I'm guessing this is another job you're doing for him, right? Well, you get anything useful out of me!" Lisa defiantly yelled despite thinking that this would be the end of the line for her causing the girl in the black bow to huff as she got off of the reporter who looked up at her with her head tilted.

"Look, I'm not proud of what I did while I was in the White Fang which is why I'm trying to make up for it by being a huntress. That's why I was scoping out the docks because...because I think they might be trying to steal the shipment coming in from the SDC," Blake explained in a much calmer, softer tone as she walked over to Lisa's fallen pistol and handed it to her causing the reporter to glance at her gun and then Blake before grabbing the firearm.

"Forget think, the White Fang, working with Roman Torchwick, are going to steal the shipment any time now," Lisa told the former White Fang member while inspecting her firearm for any damage as Blake look disheartened, if only for a brief moment.

"N-no, the White Fang wouldn't work for a human like that," Blake futilely denied Lisa's claim causing the reporter to grunt, but otherwise say nothing as she inspected the docks with her camera and focused on the waterline when she saw white blips in the distance.

"Well, you'll get your answer shortly," Lisa replied while handing Blake her camera and pointing to where the white blips were which slowly grew in size with each passing moment making the huntress grunt.

"...I guess I will; it will be safer for you if you stay here," Blake advised the reporter who fervently shook her head.

"No, I want to help and that's what I'm going to do," Lisa calmly, but firmly stated causing Blake to grunt and walk over to the edge of the building where she crouched down like a predator on the hunt.

"Just don't bite off more than you can chew," Blake replied as she leaped off the building and when Lisa looked over the edge, she saw Blake had already made it to her previous position and hopped the fence along with her companion.

"Chief, the White Fang are approaching the docks now by aircraft from the water," Lisa informed Asher on her scroll while looking at the expanse of water and saw the terrorists heading towards the docks in appropriated bullheads.

"_I'll tell my boys to move in and hopefully, we can stop them before they do too much damage. Also, you know what? Fuck Ozpin, this is too good an opportunity to pass up and if that means I have to turn in my badge, so be it," _Asher passionately stated making a grin tug at the corner of Lisa's lips as she ran down the flight of stairs as fast as she could before jumping over the railing to get to the bottom floor.

"I always admired your grit, Chief," Lisa responded as she carefully crossed the street and hid behind the strangely empty guard station just as the bullheads landed on the ground and a whole cacophony of White Fang soldiers exited the aircrafts.

"Alright you animals, pick up the pace! My boss is pretty adamant we get this done in a timely manner so no complaining about taking orders from the human or any drivel about equal rights or such! My necks on the line here, you understand? Of course you do, so get to it!" Roman barked while stuffing a cigar in his mouth and lighting it up where he gave Melodic Cudgel a little twirl causing some of the goons to snarl under their breathes or roll their eyes.

"Are you helping us move this shit? No? Then shut the fuck up and let us do our jobs," one faunus, a woman well into adulthood with beetle mandibles on the side of her mouth which gave her voice a noticeable reverb to it, hissed as she snatched Roman's cigar of his mouth, threw it to the ground, and grinded it underneath her boot.

"In case you didn't realize, this heist wouldn't have been possible without me so you'd best show a little respect to your superiors like the animal-" Roman began to say only for the soldier to grab his bowler hat, toss it into the air, and perforate with quick, precise shots from her daunting arm cannon.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear you say that," the soldier said in a icy, deathly calm voice as she caught Roman's destroyed bowler hat between her finger tips and placed it back on his head before going back to helping her cohorts.

"These animals don't have any manners, I swear," Roman mumbled as he took off his hat and put another cigar in his mouth as the arm cannon soldier helped attached shipping containers to the bottom of each bullhead with the help of one of her subordinates, a tall, athletically built woman whose face was obscured by the black, full body armor of a knight and had a single braid of gray hair hanging out of her helm.

"So that girl-"

"Deshret wants us to be the distraction, yes," the arm cannon soldier gently interrupted her subordinate who grunted as her superior's other subordinate, a skinny, but rugged young man with honey badger ears atop his head, offered to help, but she and the knight errant assured him they could handle it to which he nodded and went back to keeping vigil over the area.

"And you think that is wise?" the knight errant quietly inquired so as to not catch Torchwick's attention making the arm cannon soldier laugh under her breathe and murmur "Probably not, but at least we get to drag Roman into this." making the knight errant chuckle softly as they banged their fists against the frames of some of the bullheads twice indicating they could return to base.

"I figured as much," the knight errant mumbled as they both watched five bullheads return to base with three shipping containers each attached to the bottom of their frames before resuming their work where they along with their fellow soldiers were able to get two more bullheads across the water where they appeared as nothing, but white, blurry dots. Before they could get even more shipping containers, the arm cannon soldier suddenly narrowed her eyes and primed her weapon causing the knight errant to brandish her longsword and unfurl her undulating dagger which she gripped with her long, muscular crocodile tail. Their sharpshooter got ready to fire as well causing the other sentries to confusedly look at another before following suit causing Roman to shout "What the hell are you animals doing? There's no one here but us so get back to work!" However, Roman soon ate his words as armored police choppers, a myriad of police cruisers, and a seemingly endless amount of SWAT vans finally arrived on the scene making the mob boss pinch the bridge of his nose and release a heavy, irritated sigh.

"_Roman Torchwick, stand down! You're completely surrounded!" _Chief Asher roared from one of the choppers from his megaphone causing the mob boss to put another cigar in his mouth and light it up to calm his nerves.

"This day could not get any worse. Someone shoot them already!" Roman yelled causing the soldier who destroyed his bowler hat to throw down a miniature spider droid which proceeded to fire large, powerful salvos of super heated water at law enforcement which sent metal from the police cruisers and concrete from the ground to fly in every direction upon impact. While the spider droid was busy blowing things up, its wielder took cover behind a wall and was joined by her sharpshooter who downed one officer with a precise shot to their hand making the cop scream before crumpling to the ground. Giving a complimenting nod to her subordinate, the spider droid soldier fired off a shot of her own which completely blew up a police cruiser sending molten metal, debris, and burnt officers sailing off to the side. Her other subordinate meanwhile skillfully blocked the bullets with the flat of her blade, batted the projectiles back to sender, or sliced them in half with her razor sharp dagger.

"If this is the best they have, they shouldn't have bothered coming," the longsword wielder quipped as she unclipped one of the explosives from her belt, took note of the officer's positions, ripped off part of the fuse, lit it up, and tossed it into the crowd all while continuing to block and slice any bullets headed her way. The knight errant then couldn't help but let a smirk tug at the corner of her lips as her bomb blew up with far more force than an explosive the size of a baseball had any right to thanks to her semblance as it destroyed a multitude of police cruisers, perforated officers with razor sharp shrapnel, and sent large chunks of the street hurtling into the air.

"Maybe so, but the battle isn't over yet," the spider droid wielding soldier gently admonished the longsword wielder who dutifully nodded as their sharpshooter downed another officer by shooting them in the foot which made her collapse to the ground, howl in pain, and tightly clutch her limb. The sharpshooter then proceeded to neutralize another cop by deftly nailing them in the hand causing the officer to throw his head back and scream as he fell onto his back while grasping his bloody, mangled hand.

"Good shooting," the spider droid soldier complimented her subordinate who nodded as he shot another cop in the kneecap making the man scream before awkwardly and harshly faceplanting right onto the cold, hard concrete. While all this was happening, a certain motorboat driven by the White Fang scout inconspicuously made its way behind the docks to the same blind spot the scout used a few days prior where it came to a stop a few inches from solid ground.

"Wilma, you're with me. Jin, Ashanti, you two hit that other warehouse and be quick; it's only a matter of time before the police figure out the battle outside is a diversion," Deshret, a young woman with a stocky, solid frame, dark skin, and gauntlets forged from the ripped limbs of a spider droid told her team who loyally nodded and went to do their assigned tasks.

"You're not worried Ebony is going to tell Torchwick you deviated from his plan?" Wilma, an overweight girl with the big, razor sharp fangs of a rat, concernedly inquired to which Deshret let out a small laugh and recalled how the spider droid soldier was more than happy to go along with what she had in mind.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Deshret responded genially and was pretty sure Ebony was having an absolute blast dragging an unknowing Torchwick into their diversion to which Wilma tilted her head, but otherwise said nothing as they entered a warehouse which housed shipping containers of dust meant to be shipped out to the Valean Militia in the outskirts. Running up to some of the shipping containers, Wilma unclipped a length of rope from her belt, jumped onto the container, and tied the rope around the shipping container's fame until it was taut. Next, Wilma took out a medium sized gravity dust crystal from her pouch, stabbed the storage unit's frame which made a fist sized hole, and pushed the gravity dust crystal inside which rendered the container almost weightless. Doing this until she had ten shipping containers in total, Wilma began tugging her haul toward the boat where her jaw almost dropped when she saw Deshret was carrying five shipping containers on her shoulders and dragging five behind her without using the gravity dust crystals to lessen their weight.

"Showoff," Wilma pouted making Deshret chuckle warmly as Wilma tied the lengths of rope to the end of their boat while her superior placed gravity dust crystals inside the shipping containers she was carrying before following suit.

"Ma'am, we're back! Sorry it took so long; some foolish dock workers and security guards tried to stop us. As you ordered, we didn't kill them," Jin explained as she and Ashanti dragged ten nearly weightless shipping containers behind them and attached the ropes they were being dragged by like dogs to the end of the motorboat causing Deshret to grin widely at the large haul they all brought in.

"Very good; you're all doing great work here, but don't let it get to your head," Deshret first praised and lightly criticized any of them who might have gotten a big head causing her subordinates to dutifully nod as she, Jin, Wilma, and Ashanti went about appropriating even more of the shipment with seemingly no one to stop them. Meanwhile, Lisa was proving to be a crack shot as she neutralized several White Fang goons with accurate shots from her pistol and even managed to shoot a bomb out of the air thrown by the longsword wielder which made her a prime target as the reporter gasped and barely managed to dive behind a destroyed police cruiser in time to avoid before shot in the face by the sharpshooter. However, she grimaced as the bullet grazed the side of her head regardless which shaved off a patch of her hair and some of the skin on the side of her head despite her aura not breaking.

"_It's strange, why are only some of them trying to make off with the shipment while the others are holding their ground against us?" _Lisa wondered as she forced down the pain and tried to peek over the car she was using as cover, but was forced to hide when a bullet whizzed mere inches over her head the moment a minuscule part of it was exposed. Suddenly, a realization hit her as she scooted over to the edge of the car and crouched down like she was an animal on the hunt. Sprinting forward, Lisa dove to the car across from her and gnashed her teeth as the honey badger faunus shot her in the ribs the exact moment she was exposed with her aura preventing it from being a killshot. Coming to a stop, Lisa inched backwards until her body was pressing against the cold steel of the vehicle and lifted her shirt to inspect her wound where she winced when she saw a gruesome, bluish-black bruise with some of the skin shaved off on her ribs which began to bleed.

Forcing down the pain, Lisa grabbed her scroll and contacted Asher where she said "Chief, I think this battle is just a distraction while another force is stealing other dust from right under our noses." only for her breathe to hitch when she saw a bomb thrown by the knight errant land near her feet. Resisting the urge to scream, Lisa scrambled away from the explosive which put her right out in the open which was the knight errant's intent in the first place as she shot a crossbow bolt at Lisa while the sharpshooter fired off another shot at her. Screaming as the crossbow bolt embedded itself into her arm holding her pistol while the bullet dug into her leg away from a vital artery, Lisa crumpled onto her belly while breathing heavily as the knight errant advanced on her at Ebony's command. Feeling a sense of dread overcome her, Lisa determinedly inched her way toward her fallen hardballer...only for the sharpshooter to destroy the firearm with a discharged bullet which broke it in two making the reporter curse as she turned around and saw the longsword wielder skillfully slice, hack, and slash any officers who got in her way with her weapons. Additionally, she would also bash them across the face or club them over the head with the crossguard or jab them right between the eyes with the pommel before she loomed over Lisa who, while she did her best to hide it, fearfully looked up at her.

"Lisa Lavender, it is an honor to meet you though I wish it was under different circumstances," the knight errant remarked as she tightly coiled her tail around Lisa's wounded leg like a hungry anaconda which made the journalist grimace as she was then dragged across the ground by the longsword wielder.

"I do dislike harming those I respect, even if they are a filthy human," the knight errant quipped as she increased the pressure on Lisa's injured leg when the journalist flailed in her grasp making Lisa curse and clench her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Suddenly, the knight errant was forced to relinquish her grip on Lisa when Blake came at her with an overhead strike with her blade which she blocked only for Blake to flip over her by using a clone. Grunting, the longsword wielder swung her blade backwards as Blake leaned her head and sucked in a breathe as the tip of the blade grazed her forehead and cut off a lock of her hair. Kicking the longsword wielder in the gut while she was recovering to gain some distance, Blake grabbed Lisa and seemingly teleported away making the knight errant snort as she jogged back to her unit while Blake gently set Lisa down against an empty shipping container which was away from the carnage.

"I thought I told you to not bite off more than you could chew," Blake lambasted Lisa like she was a child while tearing off a strip of Lisa's pants and tying it around the bullet wound on her leg.

"Fighting someone who could shoot me the moment I left cover and someone who could block bullets was not a conscious choice of mine," Lisa growled making Blake grunt as she grabbed Lisa's arm, snapped the crossbow bolt in half, gently shoved the remains out, and tied the strip of cloth around her arm to stop the bleeding.

"_Lisa, please repeat. You said this battle is just a distraction?" _Asher asked causing Lisa to grab her scroll and give an impressed nod when she saw Blake's blonde haired companion not only holding his own against Roman, but several dozen White Fang thugs as well.

"Yes, I think a smaller force went around the back to steal some of the dust in storage while the main force we're combating is just stalling for time," Lisa informed the lawman to which the reporter heard him let out a long sigh before jolting as a girl with silver eyes, a black corset, a red cloak, and black and red hair came up to them.

"_God damn it, I can't spare any men to go after them since we've nearly boxed them in, but I saw the girl with the black bow and the blonde haired boy you were worried about fighting these guys. Could you get into contact with them and see if they can lend a hand?" _the lawman asked causing Lisa to glance at Blake, the girl in the red hood, and a girl with orange hair and a pink bow on her head who joined them as well.

"I think they'd be willing to help," Lisa replied causing the lawman to breathe a sigh of relief and thank her before the line went dead causing Lisa to focus on the two newcomers with the girl in the red hood staring at Blake with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Blake, where were you!? We worried sick!" the girl in the red hood shouted at Blake who huffed as Lisa, through gritted teeth, stood back up while clutching her arm and accepted the firearm the girl with the orange hair handed her to her with a grateful nod.

"Even Weiss?" Blake skeptically asked her friend who nodded without even having to think about it as Lisa checked how much ammo she had left and grimaced when her arm and leg started acting up.

"Even Weiss...although she has problems showing it," the scythe wielder responded causing Blake to blankly stare at her friend for a short moment before nodding as she readied her weapons and saw Sun get blown back from an explosive charge fired from Melodic Cudgel.

"Uh, hey ladies! I could use a little help here!" Sun yelled as blocked an overhead strike from Roman and took out a couple of White Fang goons with several swings from his shotgun nunchucks, but several more took their place.

"I calculate that there is a 95% chance that there is a smaller unit of White Fang soldiers stealing another shipment as we speak so you, Mrs. Blake, and Mrs. Lavender should go to the warehouses and apprehend them post haste. I will remain here and assist our ally," the girl with the orange hair recommended as she walked toward the open battlefield and unfurled several blades from her backpack which seemed to float in midair.

"Penny wait, this is dangerous!" Ruby concernedly yelled causing Penny to give her friend a knowing smirk and take out a dozens of White Fang goons in one fell swoop with all of her blades and then embedded her swords into the hull of a bullhead where she proceeded to yank the vessel into the water.

"Don't worry, Ruby! I'm combat ready!" Penny proclaimed as she leaped into the fray to help Sun causing Lisa and Blake to be taken aback by Penny's prowess while Ruby's eyes widened and her jaw nearly hit the floor upon witnessing her friend's show of force.

"Come on, let's go to the warehouses before they make off with even more dust," Blake stated causing Lisa to nod and follow the huntress where they inadvertently left a stunned Ruby behind causing Blake to double back and drag her friend by the wrist.

"Weiss, Yang, where are you guys? There's this crazy battle-" Ruby, who had shaken herself out of her stupor, to say to her teammates over the scroll and ducked underneath the body of a White Fang thug Penny unintentionally sent flying toward her.

"_We know, we heard the explosions so I'm guessing you guys...are having a blast right about now," _Yang remarked causing Ruby to groan internally as Lisa downed several more White Fang soldiers with accurate shots while Blake neutralized a copious amount with hacks, cuts, slashes, and stabs from her blades.

"Yang, now's not the time! Blake, Mrs. Lavender, and I are headed to the warehouses so meet up with us there!" Ruby shouted over the deafening sounds of battle as she saw Penny knock the longsword wielder straight into the wall which created spider web cracks along the structure, but the elderly warrior retaliated by sidestepping Penny's overhead slash and bashing her across the face with a quick, but stiff jab with the pommel of her weapon.

"_Alright, just try not to win the battle without us," _Yang responded causing Ruby to practically see the battle happy grin crossing her sister's face making the huntress sigh softly as she ended the call and narrowed her eyes when she saw a motorboat mindlessly floating in the water with over forty shipping containers tethered to the back of it.

"Shit, whoever these guys are, they work fast," Blake worriedly murmured and while Ruby wasn't one for using curse words, she had to agree as the trio took cover behind the wall and could plainly hear whoever was inside hard at work.

"Blake, you get up top and be ready to do a super awesome ninja takedown on my count. Lisa, you go around the back so you won't be spotted and try to detach some of the shipping containers connected to the boat. I'll go through the front and distract them," Ruby ordered causing Blake to nod and get on top of the roof while Lisa cautiously ran around the back. As for the scythe wielder, she put Crescent Rose in rifle form and carefully ran up to the entrance where she pressed her back against the wall and warily peeked around the corner.

"Vickers, we're about done here so can you swing back around and get your half?" Deshret requested as she, Wilma, Jin, and Ashanti planted gravity dust crystals in several more of the shipping containers and tied them to the motorboat.

"_You got it, but it's going to take some time because there's this crazy girl with orange hair shooting down damn near everyone," _Vickers replied causing Deshret to tell him to proceed with caution as Ruby saw Blake crouched down next to a roof window and saw Lisa take out one of her ballpoint pen knives and slowly begin sawing some of the ropes attached to the motorboat. Sucking in a breathe, Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose to its scythe form and rushed into the building immediately causing Jin, Ashanti, and Wilma to stop what they were doing and aim their firearms at her while Deshret raised a brow.

"Hiya, you're the daughter of Summer Rose, right? My condolences for your loss; she was a skilled warrior who didn't lose sight of her compassion," Deshret empathized with the young huntress who was 14 years her junior causing Ruby to be taken aback as a million questions now ran through her head.

"You met my mom?" Ruby inquired almost breathlessly causing Deshret to nod as she cast a quick glance at the side door and saw nothing as Lisa managed to get behind cover in time while trying to quiet her breathing.

"Her team came to blows with my allies and I during the takeover of Tenebris Academy in Vacuo; needless to say, they were unsuccessful in driving us off," Deshret explained causing Wilma and Ashanti to exchange confused glances with one another, but otherwise didn't say anything as Jin looked up only to see nothing as Blake got out of sight in time.

"Then I'll finish what she started," Ruby stated as she readied Crescent Rose causing Jin, Ashanti, and Wilma to inch their fingers closer to the trigger while Deshret just grinned and let out a quiet, amused chuckle.

"You are welcome to try," Deshret replied making the huntress smirk as she shouted "Now!" causing Blake to burst through the window as she chose Wilma as her first target...only for Deshret to yank her out of the way with Jin doing the same for Ashanti. Growling, Ruby repeatedly fired at Deshret who deftly knocked the bullets back towards Ruby by swinging her gauntlets around which were attached to chains making the huntress gasp and just managed to deflect her own attacks. Seeing her foe nearly upon her, Ruby broke down into a mass of petals to gain some distance...only for her opponent to keep up with her every step of the way and throw a strong straight punch with her left hand as if it were a spear the moment Ruby reformed atop a shipping container. Widening her eyes, Ruby barely managed to place Crescent Rose in front of her in time and felt as if her chest was caved in when she blocked the punch which roughly knocked her weapon right onto her sternum.

Grimacing as she was sent flying back, Ruby righted herself in mid-air and kicked off the wall where she broke down into a mass of petals again before discharging shot after shot at Deshret who swung one of her chained gauntlets around to block the projectiles before taking a swing at the huntress. Gasping, Ruby used the recoil from her weapon to dodge the pointed gauntlet hurtling toward her which grazed her corset...only for Deshret to suddenly get right in her face and tightly grasp the shaft of Crescent Rose. Dry heaving as she crashed against the wall which she was now embedded in, Ruby futilely tried to yank Crescent Rose out of Deshret's grasp, but it was like trying to pull Remnant out of orbit. Ruby then felt lighter than air as Deshret viciously headbutted her and then violently wheezed as the warrior kneed her in the gut which forced all the air out of her like a balloon. Not even noticing her weapon slip from her grasp, Ruby collapsed on all fours while tightly clutching her stomach as Deshret snapped Crescent Rose in two by breaking it over her knee and threw the now destroyed weapon to the floor.

"You're going to have to learn to take hits in order to become a better warrior, young Rose," Deshret genially advised Ruby who was too busy sucking down big gulps of air to notice before she went limp as the warrior stomped on her head which rendered her unconscious. Grunting, Deshret grabbed the spare chains she kept on her person and tied them around Ruby's wrists and ankles so when she regained consciousness, she wouldn't be a threat. While all this was happening, Wilma, Ashanti, and Lisa were engaged in a firefight after the White Fang goons discovered what she was doing while Jin and Blake circled each other like vicious, rabid predators about to throw down over a territorial dispute.

"First you run from your responsibilities in the White Fang, and then you run from your responsibilities as a huntress," Jin pointed out with as much vitriol as she could muster before unfurling her meteor hammer which hit the ground with a loud thud and created a miniature crater from the impact making Blake brandish her katana.

"What are you trying to say?" Blake huffed as Jin leveled her sawed off shotgun right at Blake's face causing Blake to point her pistol right between Jin's eyes with neither flinching in the slightest.

"Blake Belladonna is a coward," Jin coldly remarked causing the huntress to growl before lunging toward Jin who discharged several shots from her firearm which Blake blocked though her arms nearly went numb in the process. When Blake was mere inches from her, Jin swung her flail at her former ally's head only to hit a clone which Blake capitalized on and cut the back of Jin's knee forcing the soldier to the ground. Hissing, Jin rolled forward to avoid the follow up slash to her back and fired off another shot from her shotgun which Blake deflected only to wince as Jin's flail nailed her in the nose while she was still parrying the bullet. Forcing down the pain, Blake continued to deflect any bullets Jin discharged at her until the soldier was out of ammo, but this didn't deter Jin as she charged at Blake and swung her meteor hammer at the huntress's side. Kicking the flail which sent it erratically flying out of Jin's hands, Blake then leaned her head to the side when Jin swung her empty shotgun at her head like a club and caught the thrust to her face in between her sword and sheathe.

Twisting Jin's arm so she was forced to release her shotgun, the soldier cursed as she fell to her knees before twisting around and connecting with a spinning elbow strike to Blake's ribs making the huntress wince as Jin yanked her arm out of Blake's grasp when the huntress faltered from the blow. Rolling forward, Jin grabbed her fallen meteor hammer, wrapped the chain around one of her hands and them clutched the melon shaped bludgeon in the other. Advancing on Blake, Jin grimaced as she was pelted with a flurry of pistol rounds which her aura absorbed and struck at Blake's chest with a superman punch with the bludgeon which the huntress avoided by using her clones. Hissing as a painful slash to her back sent a painful tremor up her body, Jin swung behind her and only grazed Blake's bow as the huntress cut her across the thigh with both her blades and then kicked the side of Jin's knee by using her clone to get to the other side. Screaming, Jin staggered back and barely managed to block the slash to her shoulder with the chain of her weapon and struck Blake in the eye with her bludgeon, but the huntress mercilessly retaliated by shooting Jin in the crotch. Sucking in a haggard breathe as her pupils constricted to the size of dots, Jin crumpled onto all fours with a violent hack and glared at Blake as just before the huntress could deliver the knockout blow, the White Fang soldier managed to envelop herself in noxious, sickly looking green fumes with herculean effort.

Coughing wildly and feeling tears uncontrollably well at her eyes, Blake stumbled back while continuing to hack erratically as she felt as if someone was burning her lungs from the inside. Hissing as the fumes burnt her skin, Blake covered her mouth as she vomited the contents of her stomach onto the floor as an exhausted Jin grasped Blake's shoulder and tiredly spewed a plume of sickly fumes onto her face. Screaming bloody murder, Blake blindly swung at Jin with her sheathe which hit its mark and then planted her boot against her opponent's chest sending Jin falling to the floor back where she, due to her injuries and the strain of using her semblance for the first time, was unable to get up.

Reeling and then collapsing onto all fours, Blake clutched her partly burnt face as one of her eyes was now bloodshot while the other was grayed out as she felt as if every breathe she took was going to be her last. Suddenly, Blake screamed as she felt like her head was knocked clean off of her shoulders as Deshret punt kicked her across the face which made her head snap to the side before she went still. Snorting, Deshret restrained Blake with her spare chains and then knelt down next to Jin where she place a hand on her subordinate's stomach which began to glow a bright, burning orange as if it were a star.

"We still need you, my friend," Deshret said as she increased the temperature ever so slightly so as to not harm her subordinate which slowly, but surely began healing some of her wounds.

"Ugh, I didn't expect using my semblance would take so much out of me," Jin remarked while grabbing her head as if it had been split in two by an axe as she felt herself being hauled to her feet by her superior who patted her shoulder.

"I hear that's the norm for those who've only recently unlocked theirs, but I never had need of one," Deshret replied causing Jin to tilt her head as before she could ask "Weren't you just using your semblance?" Wilma was sent flying into a shipping container with a pained shout which folded inward from a strong, stiff punch from Yang which was amplified by the slugs in Ember Celica.

"Ruby, Blake!" Yang shouted when she saw her unconscious baby sister tied up while her partner was lying in a heap on the floor causing the blonde brawler's eyes to turn a shade of bloody crimson and let out a skyward scream as vibrant flames enveloped her like a phoenix.

"Which one of you is responsible for this!?" Weiss demanded as pointed Myrtenaster at a glyph restrained Ashanti who flinched when the tip of the rapier was pointed right between her eyes causing Deshret to beckon an injured Jin back which the soldier complied with.

"Hiya, I am. Never expected to meet Raven's daughter or Winter's little sister, but hey, funny world, right?" Deshret lightheartedly remarked as Yang was immediately upon her where she attacked the warrior with a wild, furious frenzy of haymakers, hooks, straight punches, and the occasional kick. Throughout all this, Deshret allowed herself to be pushed back while just blocking or redirecting the blows away from her with her right arm as if it was a shield so she could isolate Yang from Weiss which the former was oblivious to in her anger, but the latter wasn't fooled. Weiss assisted Yang by trying to restrain Deshret's limbs in her glyphs which the soldier broke out of nigh instantaneously or tried to get a stab, thrust, or kick in by using her glyphs to zip around Deshret when the blonde brawler let up in her assault ever so slightly. However, the warrior wasn't to be outmaneuvered as she would always force Yang back with a quick front kick or shove and then weave around the heiress' strikes before landing a stiff punch to Weiss' gut which made her gag or a powerful kick to either of her legs which nearly made Weiss fall over each time.

The blows quickly began to take their toll on Weiss who was now limping on her bruised leg and every movement she took made her double over slightly causing Deshret to remain focused despite the urge to grin. Ducking underneath Yang's hook punch to her face, she rammed her elbow into her hip like she was bashing Yang with a shield making the blonde brawler grimace and nearly fall over as Deshret used the momentum to spin around a thrust to her gut from Weiss and throw a kick at the heiress' face. All Weiss could do was stare at the incoming hook kick with a deer in the headlights gaze, but fortunately Yang blocked the blow which caused her feet to sink into the ground causing rubble to shoot up in the air and the resulting shockwave to shatter the windows. Letting out a war cry, Yang tugged Deshret's leg toward her while throwing the strongest punch she could muster at the warrior's face...who fell onto her back to avoid the blow and planted her foot against the blonde brawler's chest. Wheezing, Yang was knocked onto her ass while Deshret rolled to her feet and eagerly beckoned her opponents to come at her as Weiss looked like she had been put through the grinder while Yang was beginning to take in deep, haggard breathes.

* * *

"Ugh...agh," Blake moaned as her eyes slowly fluttered open and felt the the worse pain the world erupt in her cranium making her grit her teeth, force down the pain, and take stock of her predicament. She was tied up, her friends and Lisa Lavender were locked in vicious combat with a surprisingly capable White Fang unit, and thus far, she didn't know if law enforcement was making any headway in pushing the White Fang back. Wriggling around until she was on her back, Blake writhed out of the chains restraining her and hobbled toward Ruby who was still lying face down on the ground.

"Ruby, c'mon. Get up, please," Blake implored while untying Ruby from her bonds and flipping the scythe wielder onto her back, but Ruby was unresponsive making tears well at the huntress's eyes as she buried her face in Ruby's chest.

"This is all my fault; you guys wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't ran," Blake sobbed as she tightly gripped her fallen friend...only to widen her eyes when she felt Ruby gently rest a hand on top of her head making the huntress glance at her team leader.

"It doesn't matter, we would have gone looking for you regardless," Ruby assured Blake while weakly sitting up with a grimace causing Blake to grip Ruby's shoulder to keep her upright.

"I don't deserve your kindness," Blake mumbled to which Ruby huffed as she saw Deshret slowly, but surely overwhelming Weiss and Yang and Lisa about to get overrun by Wilma and Ashanti.

"You're going to get it anyway; I'll help Lisa, you help Weiss and Yang," Ruby ordered causing Blake to dutifully nod as she rushed over to Deshret and used a clone to distract her which finally enabled Yang to land a solid punch across her face. While Deshret was reeling, Weiss conjured a series of white glyphs around her and swiftly sped around each one while striking the warrior with precise thrusts making Deshret stagger about from each one. Before Deshret could recover, Blake kicked her across the face making her head snap to the side and then winced as she received a full power punch from Yang right on the face sending shockwaves throughout the area which shook the ground, uplifted the rubble, and cracked the walls.

Deshret grimaced as not only did her head violently snap back, the resulting kinetic energy carried her backwards as well until she harshly hit the wall and was partially buried underneath debris. In spite of this, Deshret just pushed the rubble off of her and inspected her wounds where she saw that a trickle of blood was pouring down her mouth, copious slashes marred her body, and bruises had formed on her frame as well. Giving an amused laugh, Deshret locked eyes with Yang who looked like a strong breeze could knock her over and gave the huntress a shit eating grin.

"You hit hard," Deshret stated as, to Weiss, Yang, and Blake's dismay, the same flames Deshret used to heal Jin covered her wounds and began healing them rendering their previous efforts for naught. Meanwhile, Ruby broke down into a mass of petals, sped toward where Lisa was, and let out a war cry as she kicked Wilma in the gut making the White Fang goon intensely hack as the momentum behind the blow not only made her feel as if her insides imploded, but sent her tumbling across the ground like a stone across a pond as well. Widening her eyes, Ashanti's expression then settled into a fierce glare aimed towards Ruby and opened fire on the huntress only for Ruby to get out of the way long before the first bullet left the chamber.

"Hold still!" Ashanti yelled causing Ruby to shout "Only if you promise not to shoot me!" over the hail of gunfire causing the White Fang goon to snarl and try to predict where the huntress was going to go only for her rifle to be yanked to the side and then slugged across the face by Lisa who had ran out of ammo. Grimacing, Ashanti staggered back as Lisa then kneed her in the crotch making her double over and then bashed her over the head with her own gun, but Ashanti responded by tackled her against the wall and dug her fingers into the open wound on Lisa's arm. Screaming bloody murder, Lisa tried to shove Ashanti's arm away only to shriek as the White Fang goon proceeded to pound the bruised abrasion on her midsection with strong, vicious punches.

"Hold on!" Ruby yelled as she did a quick run over to where her team was and knocked Deshret slightly off balance with a surprise kick to the back of her head enabling Weiss to connect with a flurry of stabs amplified by her light blue glyphs and lightning dust. Sprinting toward Lisa who ate another shot to her midsection which made her cough up blood, Ruby prepared another kick only to be tackled out of mid-air by Wilma who managed to predict her movement patterns.

"Well done, Wilma!" Deshret complimented her subordinate who gave a curt smile before wrapping her arms around Ruby's neck, picking her up, and slamming her against the wall face first.

"I'm sorry about this," Wilma apologetically told Ruby while wrenching the huntress's arm behind her back and pressing her forearm on the back of Ruby's neck making the huntress writhe around to break free to no avail. Seeing that Ruby was now the one in need of help, Lisa tried to dislodge Ashanti's grip by bringing her elbow down on the back of her head, but the White Fang goon's grasp was like iron as Ashanti pushed her fingers deeper into the open wound and savagely kneed Lisa's wounded leg. Throwing her head back and letting out a pained, agonizing howl, Lisa managed to place one of her feet against the wall before pushing off of it with herculean effort. As Lisa expected, Ashanti quickly overpowered her and began shoving her toward the wall again, but this time Lisa twisted to the side which allowed Ashanti's momentum to uncontrollably carry her forward where she harshly crashed against the wall with the crown of her skull.

Screaming, Ashanti hobbled back while clutching her head causing Lisa to bring both arms back before striking Ashanti across the face with fierce diagonal hammerfist with all her weight behind it. Cursing, Ashanti crashed against the wall with a loud thud where she covered up and tried to regain her bearings causing Lisa to run over to where Ruby was now that she had the chance. Snarling when she saw Wilma reluctantly punch Ruby in the kidney and then headbutt the back of her skull when she continued to put up resistance, Lisa wrapped an arm around Wilma's neck and kneed her in the base of the spine which elicited a choked croak from the White Fang goon. When Wilma still didn't let go, Lisa repeatedly elbowed the back of Wilma's head eliciting a sharp cry of pain from the White Fang thug each time, but stubbornly refused to relinquish her hold on Ruby. Before Lisa could continue her assault, she shrieked and crumpled to the ground when a volley of bullets tore through her other leg like wet paper causing the reporter to tightly grasp her bloodied limb where the red liquid leaked in between her fingers.

"You're pretty good, Lavender," Jin praised while leveling her shotgun at Lisa's face before gesturing for Ashanti to grab Lisa causing the White Fang soldier to angrily stalk toward the reporter who bashed Jin's shotgun away from her face and kicked Ashanti in the kneecap which made the White Fang soldier stagger back. Hissing when a pellet grazed her shoulder in spite of her efforts, Lisa rolled to her feet where she dodged a front kick from Wilma and ducked underneath a punch to her head from Ashanti in spite of her wounds. However, Jin put a stop to Lisa's heroics by bashing her in the face with her shotgun like it was the shaft of a polearm and while Lisa was reeling, planted her boot against the journalist's chest sending Lisa harshly sprawling to the ground where she stomped on the journalist's freshly wounded leg making the reporter throw her head back and wail at the top of her lungs.

"Now grab her," Jin ordered causing Ashanti to nod as she roughly hauled Lisa to her feet with a tight bearhug making Lisa desperately gasp for air as her face began to turn red and then hissed as Ashanti dug her fingers into her open wounds yet again making tears form at the corner of her eyes. Instinctively struggling in her captor's grip, Lisa cried out as Ashanti gave a restrained, but stiff knee to her newly injured leg to let her know what would happen if she tried something like earlier again. Cursing, Lisa begrudgingly ceased her struggles and stared at Ruby where she mouthed "I'm sorry, I tried." to which the huntress gave her an appreciative nod in spite of her failure.

"Ma'am, I had Vickers leave the bullhead behind while having him take our boat back to base!" Jin informed her superior while motioning for the AI piloting the aircraft to come closer to the ground to which it did.

"Very good, then it's time we depart as well. We spent more time here than we should have," Deshret replied as she locked eyes with Wilma while blocking a punch from Yang, avoiding thrust from Weiss, and stopping a kick from Blake and gestured for her to get on the vessel along with her hostage. Sighing heavily, Wilma carried an unwilling Ruby toward the bullhead making the huntress uselessly flail around in Wilma's grip, futilely dig her feet into the ground, and pointlessly grab the walls to try and stop her kidnapping.

"No, you're not taking my sister!" Yang roared as she temporarily forgot how she was running on fumes at this point and charged at Wilma with reckless abandon with her fist reared back. While the White Fang goon froze like a deer in the headlights, Jin didn't as she pushed Wilma out of the way and ate the full force of the punch which made her temporarily black out as they both tumbled to the ground in a heap. In spite of this, Jin still managed to pull out a patch of Yang's hair making the blonde brawler viciously slug Jin across the face rendering the White Fang goon even more punch drunk and hoisted her barely conscious form up with an arm around her neck.

"If you want your friend back, you give us back Ruby!" Yang demanded as she slugged Jin in the kidney with a semblance enhanced, shotgun amplified reverse punch to emphasize her point making the White Fang goon hack up blood.

"Don't, Deshret! Just get out of here!" Jin begged before gagging as Yang tightened the pressure around her neck causing Deshret to narrow her eyes while Wilma and Ashanti gritted their teeth as they waited their leader's decision with bated breathe. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Deshret released a heavy, long winded sigh and locked eyes with Jin.

"We will come back for you," Deshret sincerely assured Jin with Wilma and Ashanti fervently nodding in agreement making Jin crack a pained grin as her friends began to board the bullhead.

"W-wait, we have your friend! You have to give us back Ruby!" Yang barked as she took a step toward the White Fang goons and only stopped when Blake put a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from doing something rash which would further exacerbate their predicament.

"If you let Ruby go...I'll go in her stead!" Blake shouted at Deshret who, after getting a foot in on the aircraft, paused, and looked over her shoulder at the White Fang soldier turned huntress while Wilma and Ashanti looked at each other.

"From what I've heard, neither Adam or his current right hand, Adolf, are fond of you so if I bring you back, you can expect your stay to be...bloody," Deshret told Blake whose resolve didn't waver as she stepped forward, threw Gambol Shroud to the ground, and put her hands behind her head causing the warrior to purse her lips.

"I guess you were wrong about Blake, Jin," Deshret remarked to which her captured subordinate snorted as the warrior looked over at Wilma and gestured to the three remaining members of Team RWBY.

"Blake, no, don't do this!" Ruby shrieked as Wilma gently set her on the ground before she and Deshret grabbed Blake's shoulder and led her onto the bullhead making tears well at the huntress' eyes.

"Blake, we looked for you for twelve hours and now you're just going to leave again!? I can't believe you! What I'm trying to say is...I don't care that you were with the White Fang! You're my teammate now and that's good enough!" Weiss yelled making a smile tug at the corner of Blake's lips before she grunted as she was forced onto the bullhead causing her to take one last glance at her friends with a sad grin.

"Thank you...for everything," Blake said to her teammates before the bullhead took off into the air causing Ruby to fall to her knees and bury her face in her hands, Yang to tightly ball her hands into fists to the point blood began dripping onto the ground, and Weiss to cover her eyes with her hands as tears started to fall down her face. Meanwhile, Deshret and Wilma guided their hostages to the very end where they made them sit down next to each other, buckled them in, and restrained them with the chains Deshret had on her.

"Such good friends are rare to find, Blake," Deshret remarked as she walked over to the cockpit and took manual control over the bullhead making the huntress grunt as Ashanti walked over to them and knelt down in front of Lisa.

"Sorry about targeting your wounds, Mrs. Lavender. I was just fighting like I was taught is all," Ashanti told Lisa as she placed bandages on her arm, midsection, and leg making the reporter snort and turn her head making the White Fang goon sigh, but she supposed that sort of reaction was expected.

"Wilma, Ashanti, we're going to pick some of our friends up so get your weapons ready!" Deshret exclaimed causing the duo to nod and grab their rifles as the warrior stopped the aircraft at the side of the docks where Ebony and her unit who were surviving against the swarm of police officers, Sun, and Penny, but not making any significant process in driving them back.

"Ebony, to me!" Deshret roared causing Ebony to internally sigh in relief that someone came for them causing her to bark at her subordinates to retreat which they were more than happy to oblige. This, however, caught the attention of Sun who ducked underneath a swipe at his head which hit the unfortunate thug's ally and before they could process what happened, Sun knocked one of them out with a strike across the face with a slug amplified bash with his nunchuck and downed the other one by sweeping his legs and bringing his staff down on her midsection like a sledgehammer. With that done, Sun looked to where the White Fang soldiers were retreating to and widened his eyes when he saw Blake in restraints.

"Mr. Wukong, we must act swiftly before the White Fang escapes with our allies!" Penny told Sun while flinging her blades at the bullhead with Deshret maneuvered out of the way of which knocked Sun out of his stupor.

"R-right!" Sun declared as he and Penny charged toward the aircraft with Penny blocking any saturation fire from Wilma and Ashanti to cover their ally's retreat with laughable ease before chaining some of her swords together and firing a powerful, but precise laser at the bullhead. While Deshret managed to get their means of escape out of the way in time, Wilma wasn't as maneuverable as she was blasted right of the aircraft with a shocked scream and landed in the water with a big, painful splash.

"Wilma!" Ashanti cried out as she tried to see if she could reach down to get her, but they were too high up causing her to look at Deshret who locked eyes with her and reluctantly shook her head making the White Fang soldier clench her fists.

"We'll come back for you, Wilma! Don't worry!" Deshret assured her subordinate who lifted a dazed hand out of the water and gave her thumbs up while giving a Ashanti a kind smile so she wouldn't worry. Ashanti weakly smiled back as Ebony and her unit leaped into the aircraft with the knight errant throwing several bombs at their pursuers while Ebony took careful aim as adrenaline furiously pumped through her veins causing the world around her to seemingly grind to a near halt. Firing off many accurate shots that connected with the bombs, Ebony shielded her face with her forearm as the explosives detonated with earth shaking force thanks to the longsword wielder's semblance sending shrapnel flying through the air and searing hot fire to blanket the surrounding area.

Penny, despite her strength, was forced back as while her aura shielded her from getting impaled by shrapnel or getting turned to mulch by the kinetic energy, she still suffered damage to her frame like burn marks and slashes which shaved off parts of her synthetic skin. Ignoring this for the time being, Penny righted herself by firing the lasers from her swords in the opposite direction and gently floated down to the ground while Sun jumped through the inferno and leaped toward the aircraft while twirling his staff to block any any projectiles hurtling toward him. Locking eyes with Blake, he determinedly reached a hand toward the bullhead...only for it to fly away at the last moment causing him to grab at nothing but empty air. Cursing, Sun landed back on his feet and took several pot shots at the aircraft which didn't slow it down in the slightest as Deshret looked over her shoulder at her passengers and saw Ebony tending to the knight errant's wounds.

"Roman?" Deshret tersely inquired as Ebony placed a bandage over a gash on her subordinate's shoulder and wrapped some gauze around her slashed thigh.

"Captured," Ebony curtly responded as she wrapped another bandage around her subordinate's bruised midsection causing Deshret to nod and briefly look at Ashanti whose face was buried in her hands.

"Then Adam is going to be pissed if only because Cinder is going to be as well," Deshret replied to which Ebony said nothing as she patted her subordinate's shoulder and told her to rest up before sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

"Fucking great...thanks for coming back for us," Ebony said after a moment's pause causing the warrior to smile and nod as she looked over her shoulder at the longsword wielder who, instead of resting, sharpened her undulating dagger on a whetstone while never taking her eyes off of Lisa and Blake.

"How's Lacey?" Deshret asked while gesturing with her head toward the knight errant who set her undulating dagger aside and proceeded to sharpen her longsword while making sure to emphasize the serrated edges on the blade which, rather than running along the full length of the sword, were located at the base to better catch oncoming weapons.

"She took some pretty bad hits, but she'll live. The old bitch is tough," Ebony quipped causing Lacey, without even looking up from sharpening her longsword, to playfully flip her off causing the Ebony and Deshret to chuckle.

"So it seems," Deshret replied as the first thing she would do after delivering the dust back to base and tending to Ashanti's emotional trauma was to draw up plans on how best to free her captured subordinates.


	2. Chapter 2 Endure

Ch.2

Endure

_RWBY is the property of its respective owners, Ocs belong to me_

"Blake's...I can't believe..." Yang trailed off as she slumped to her knees and stared at the ground with vacant eyes while Weiss buried her red, teary eyes in her palm and slowly shook her head. Ruby, on the other hand, walked over to the broken remains of Crescent Rose while reviewing the fight her team had down to the last detail. Had it just been Jin, Wilma, and Ashanti, they wouldn't have broken a sweat, assisted in the capture of a lot of White Fang soldiers along with Roman, and they would have gone back to Beacon with Blake. But it wasn't just them, they had their leader with them and she fought like a seasoned, battle hardened huntress, more than enough to take down a team of first year students. With a heavy sigh, Ruby picked up the salvageable parts of Crescent Rose and walked over to Yang where she extended her hand to her big sister.

"Don't worry, we'll get Blake back. We just need to know where the White Fang took her and Lisa," Ruby assured Yang who didn't seem fully convinced, but accepted the offered hand nonetheless and felt herself being pulled to her feet while Weiss huffed and put her hands on her hips.

"Even if we do find her, who's to say that we won't run into that monster again!? She made us look like amateurs!" Weiss yelled while balling her hands into fists causing Ruby to nod and hold up her hands in a placating gesture.

"I know, but I also know how she beat us," Ruby replied causing the blonde brawler to raise a brow while Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned before walking right up to her team leader.

"That's great, Ruby! How does that help us!?" Weiss shouted while pointing her finger directly at the scythe wielder's face who gently pushed the appendage away before meeting the fencer's gaze with her own.

"Weiss, your fighting style relies heavily on speed and agility which is why Deshret targeted your midsection and legs to slow you down," Ruby explained causing Weiss to think back to the fight and remembered how her legs felt as if they were going to snap if she made one wrong move while also feeling as if her insides were going to tear apart at the slightest movement.

"I-I know, but maybe if I managed to outmaneuver her-"

"Weiss, she was fast and agile too in spite of her size and she wasn't getting tired either. If the fight went on any longer than it did, she would have beaten you," Ruby lightly interrupted her teammate causing the fencer to indignantly huff and open her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it when nothing came to mind.

"Yang, your fighting style relies heavily on outfighting opponents with overwhelming force, but even with your semblance, Deshret can take whatever punishment you can dish out and return it in kind," Ruby informed her big sister who sighed softly and rubbed her arm as she remembered landing a particularly devastating punch on her foe which was enhanced by her semblance and a shell from Ember Celica. Not only did Deshret tank it, she even laughed about it afterwards while Yang felt like she was going to fall over at any moment.

"Jeez sis, you're making it sound like I fight like a bum-"

"Yang, you're one of the best fighters I know, but you have tendency to get caught up in the heat of the moment which causes you to fight more aggressively, but sloppier too. She took advantage of that and punished you whenever you left yourself open. Yang, I'm sorry, but she's just someone who's going to outpunch you if try to outpunch her," Ruby told the blonde brawler who blankly stared at her sister for a moment before nodding and releasing a soft breathe.

"Alright, I didn't like to hear it, but I needed to hear it. How did she defeat you, sis?" Yang inquired causing Ruby to think back to her brief battle with the White Fang field leader and how she was on the back foot the whole time.

"_You're going to have to learn to take hits in order to become a better warrior, young Rose,"_ Deshret's words echoed in the young huntress' head causing Ruby to sigh softly and spare a glance at her shattered weapon.

"It's because I can't take hits very well. The moment she got a hold of me, she floored me in one hit and broke Crescent Rose," Ruby explained while showing her broken weapon to her teammates causing Yang to cringe as she knew how much her sister loved her weapon while Weiss glanced at her weapon and internally sighed in relief that it wasn't shattered as well.

"I think it's also because my combat skills without my precious baby...could use some work. I only managed to get hits in after Crescent Rose was broken through sneak attacks and once Deshret's goon grabbed me, I couldn't break free," Ruby went on causing Yang to grit her teeth as she remembered seeing Wilma hauling her sister towards a bullhead before releasing a breathe and putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Before she could say anything, however, Weiss beat her to the punch.

"Um, aren't you two forgetting something!? Remember how she regenerated like some sort of lizard when Yang punched her!? How are we going to get around a semblance like that!?" Weiss shouted causing Ruby to put a hand on her chin as everything she had learned about aura and semblances never mentioned anything about a semblance that not only granted the wielder control over flames, but an enhanced, overclocked healing factor as well. She knew it was a long shot, but Ruby considered that maybe, just maybe, if they were able to capture Deshret, than they could make her tell them what her semblance was.

"At the very least, we know how she beat us so we can train to overcome our weaknesses and cover each others in the process," Yang interjected which shook Ruby out of her stupor while a voice suddenly chirped "I couldn't agree more with that statement, Mrs. Xiao Long! However, Deshret is not the only adversary you should be concerned about." Jolting, the remainder of Team RWBY turned to the source of the sound where they saw Penny and Sun walking toward them.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked to which Penny grabbed her scroll and projected the holographic profiles of Lacey, the knight errant, and Ebony, the arm cannon soldier, making Weiss let out a small gasp upon seeing both profiles.

"Lacey La Montagne, currently 70 years old, and now working for the White Fang. She used to be a huntress a lot of people looked up to until her descent into villainy. Now she's wanted in all four kingdoms for vigilantism and terrorism," Penny explained to which Yang and Sun nodded while Weiss and Ruby dejectedly stared at the ex-huntress' picture as the heiress now felt foolish for telling her father that she was going to be just like Lacey when she got older even if the knight errant was a faunus. Ruby, however, remembered remembered watching Lacey's fights in the Mistral Tournament in awe and tried to incorporate some of the former huntress' technique's into her fighting style. More importantly, however, is how her father told her that Lacey was a shining beacon of hope when racism towards the faunus and mistrust between the kingdoms was at an all time high. To see someone she used to hold in high regard having fallen so far...shaking her head, Ruby focused on the next person Penny was talking about.

"Ebony Satsuma, currently 45 years old, and a long standing high priority target within the White Fang. She-"

"I remember her; every time the White Fang attacked our manor, she was always the one leading the other soldiers. She was always the one who executed whoever it was they were targeting...like my aunt," Weiss explained in a voice barely above a whisper as she remembered her aunt hiding Whitley, Winter, and herself in the conference room while she went out to give herself up despite knowing full well what would happen.

"_I...I'm...sorry," _Weiss remembered Ebony telling her younger self while she wept over her aunt's corpse who had a large, burning hole through her head. Ebony even so far as to clasp the heiress' shoulder with a blood soaked hand to try and reassure her, but left shortly afterwards while leaving her and her siblings unharmed.

"Oh, I'm sorry for any discomfort that this information caused, Mrs. Schnee," Penny politely apologized to the heiress who waved off the android's concern and wiped away a tear forming at the corner of her eye.

"It's fine, you couldn't have known," Weiss gruffly replied to which Penny tilted her head, but otherwise didn't prod the heiress for context while Ruby placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder making the heiress grunt, but didn't slap her team leader's hand off.

"What about this Deshret girl you guys mentioned earlier? Is there any info on her?" Sun asked causing Penny to search the Atlesian database on any and all information on the desert fighter, but could find almost nothing. No Huntsman Academy or Combat School student ID, no place of residence, and no relatives from around Remnant.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wukong, but what little information we have on her most likely won't be of aid. All the database says is that she's a highly skilled combatant and with the assistance of a small group of allies, took over Tenebris Academy in Vacuo. After that, she was MIA for several years until-"

"Until she showed up today and kicked our asses," Yang interrupted with a miffed growl as the desert fighter made her look like an absolute chump which was a sentiment shared by Weiss and Ruby.

"That is correct, Mrs. Xiao Long. She did indeed kick the posterior, however, why she's working with the White Fang and her motives remain indeterminate," Penny replied causing Yang to gaze at the holographic profile of Deshret and wondered what kind of training she underwent that she could outclass huntresses in training. Could she have attended Shade Academy or Tenebris Academy with a different name? Maybe she was trained by a huntsman or several? She was shaken out of her thoughts when Ruby began to explain the current course of action causing the blond brawler to push aside her curiosity for the time being.

"Weiss, Yang, we should head to the police station and ask if we can question Torchwick or some of the White Fang soldiers they captured. Once we learn where the White Fang's base is, we'll head back to Beacon and start training at the battlegrounds," Ruby suggested to which Yang found no complaints and was eager for the inevitable rematch while Weiss nodded as she went over what her team leader said with a hand on her chin.

"If we're going to be questioning the White Fang scoundrels, then we should question Deshret's ruffians. Their leader seems to hold sway so they might know more than just the location of the base," Weiss advised causing Ruby to faintly smile and say "Good thinking." to which the heiress smugly grinned while Yang eagerly pounded her fists as she couldn't wait for wringing out the information out of either of Deshret's subordinates.

"That is a very high possibility, Mrs. Schnee. Ruby, once we acquire the location of the base, how long will you and your team need to train?" Penny inquired which was something Yang wanted to know as well as she glanced at her sister with folded arms.

"That's a good question, sis. I don't want to leave Blake or Lisa with the White Fang any longer than we should," Yang stated causing Ruby to slowly nod as thinking of the length of how long they should train was making her head spin. A week? No, too short; none of them would make significant progress and they would be beaten down like they were earlier. A year? Too long; Blake and Lisa might be dead by then and while they might be able to beat Deshret, Ebony, and Lacey, it still could go either way.

"I don't know, a month maybe?" Ruby finally got out causing Yang and Weiss to grumble while Sun grunted as Penny noticed their deflated expressions and wracked her artificial brain for a solution. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her causing her to break out into a grin and get right into Ruby's face which made the scythe wielder jolt.

"Ruby, I believe 4 weeks worth of training will enable you and your teammates to hold your own more effectively. However, I see that you're worried that you won't be able to beat Ebony, Lacey, or Deshret and to that I say you don't need to. The objective of the mission is to rescue Mrs. Belladonna and Mrs. Lavender, correct? Then all you need to do is hold them off until one of us can acquire our captured allies and then we can make our escape," Penny told her friend causing Ruby to glance at Yang, Weiss, and Sun making the blonde brawler release a breathe and say "It's as good a plan as any."

"I'll say, once we get some training under our belt, those White Fang goons won't know what hit em! And hey, if this all goes smoothly, Blake and Lisa will be back for the dance and the Vytal festival," Sun pointed out which made Ruby, Yang, and Weiss even more determined to rescue their friend as Ruby lead her group to the police station with Weiss casting a wary glance at Sun who smiled sheepishly, but looked away when the heiress narrowed her eyes at him.

"_I still don't know how to feel about him," _Weiss thought as she remembered how he was a stowaway and evaded police, but then remembered he also kept Blake company during her absence despite not having to. With that in mind along with her desire to change the SDC for the better, the fencer resolved to keep an open mind about him.

* * *

Running a hand over his face, Asher tried to keep his cool as thus far, questioning Torchwick yielded no results. The mob boss simply wasn't fazed by whatever offers, threats, or appeals to his sense of self-preservation that the lawman put forth. Releasing a breathe, the chief of police hoped that his men were having better luck interrogating the countless White Fang soldiers they captured as Asher made another attempt to make Roman talk.

"You do understand that you're facing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, right? Cooperate with us and the judge might be more lenient which means you need to start coughing up who your employer is, why they need all this dust, and where the White Fang's current hideout is," Asher demanded while glaring at Roman from across the interrogation table, but all the mob boss did was give out a bored yawn and lean back in his chair where he would have put his feet up on the table if he could.

"I keep telling you, Boy Scout. I'll be more than happy to share what I know...if you pay me more than what my boss is giving me. However, I won't hold my breathe given what council pays you pigs," Torchwick calmly retorted causing the lawman to grunt as he pulled up footage from the battle of the docks and enhanced the image of Lacey, Ebony, and Deshret to which the mob boss resisted the urge to glare at the images.

"What do you know about these women?" Asher questioned to which the mob boss was very tempted to throw his allies under the bus, but didn't exactly want to earn Cinder's wrath so he just shrugged.

"Sorry Pig, you want answers? You're going to have to fork over the dough," Roman responded with a shit eating grin on his face, but all Asher did was scoff and brought up the security footage of Jin and Wilma's cell.

"We interviewed these two earlier and they've already thrown you under the bus for a lighter sentence. That means you have nothing left protecting you so tells us what you know and we'll put in a good word for you for the judge," Asher offered, but all Torchwick did was laugh mockingly, clap his restrained hands, and lean forward in his chair where he stared at the lawman dead in the eye.

"I'll admit, Boy Scout. It was a very good try and it would have worked on any of the other children you have in lockup, but if you were going to bluff, you should have said Butterball squealed," Roman ruthlessly tore apart Asher's gambit, but the lawman, at least on the surface, wasn't fazed as he looked toward the one way mirror and gestured at the mob boss causing two police officers to enter the interrogation room.

"Get this son of a bitch out of my sight," Asher growled causing Roman to smirk and say "I look forward to our next conversation, Chief!" while he was being lead out of the room. When he was sure the mob boss wouldn't hear him, Asher let out a long groan and pinched the bridge of his nose before exiting the room.

"Having a hard time, Chief?" one of his officers asked while handing him a cup of coffee causing the lawman to graciously accept the offered beverage and took a long swig of it before letting out a long winded breathe.

"Yeah, that son of bitch ain't talking. If only Ozpin didn't take the info Lisa was trying to bring to us. The interrogation would go a lot smoother if we had more to work with!" Asher shouted as he hoped that the White Fang wasn't hurting Lisa or Blake too badly though he knew he should expect the worse.

"I hear you, and it sucks we can't take any legal action against them. Didn't Ozpin threaten you a while back or something?" the officer asked to which the lawman solemnly nodded and knew that his days working on borrowed time were coming to an end. He just hoped he could do as much as he could before then.

"Yeah, he said if I did anything that went against his master plan, he was going to go over my head to the council and get them to strip me of my badge. Since I did just that, I'm expecting a call from the council any minute now," the chief of police replied as looked down at the brown liquid in his cup while his fellow officer widened his eyes and stared at Asher in disbelief to which the lawman just nodded slowly.

"He can't do that! You served for over thirty years and you captured Roman Torchwick of all people! The council should be on their knees thanking you for getting him off the streets!" the officer shouted in protest to which Asher gave a faint smile and clasped his cohort's shoulder.

"The council isn't going to care about that; all they're going to see is an old man causing lots of property damage to capture some foot soldiers and one dangerous criminal when there were three others as well," Asher solemnly admitted to which the officer was unable to muster a response as if right on cue, the officer manning the front desk told the lawman the council wanted to speak to him in the conference room. Sighing heavily, Asher nodded at the man, thanked him for the coffee, and headed towards his fate where he felt like a dead man walking. Entering the room, Asher narrowed his eyes when he saw the faces of not only the councilors, but Ozpin as well.

"Close the door, this won't take long," the councilors demanded causing the lawman to do so and stepped up to the podium where he felt like he was on trial, no, it was more like a sentencing since he knew what was going to happen.

"Jared Asher, you have served with distinction throughout the years, but your belligerence with us and the huntsmen has called your competence into question. These concerns were all but confirmed during your operation in which not only were you unable to apprehend Lacey La Montagne, Ebony Satsuma, or Deshret, but that you also interfered with Ozpin's plan to deal with this matter more effectively," the councilors told the lawman who briefly glared at the headmaster out of the corner of his eye before looking back at the councilors.

"Oh really? Did Ozpin tell you his plan to deal with the matter more effectively?" Asher inquired as he thought that even the council would be against Ozpin's gambit if only to ensure that they would have voters for the next election, but to this surprise they nodded.

"Yes, he did. He told us that he sent Team RWBY to help Lisa Lavender in her reconnaissance in order to better protect her should she be discovered and help her determine how many huntsman would be needed to deal with the White Fang. However, your brazen show of force made the situation spiral out of control which lead to the capture of not only Lisa Lavender, but a huntress in training as well," the councilors informed Asher who felt his blood boil and if it were possible, steam would be shooting out of his ears right now as he tightly gnashed his teeth and forcefully slammed his fist down onto the podium.

"That's not what happened and you know it, Ozpin! Did it slip your mind that we managed to nab Roman Torchwick or did you just conveniently leave that part out!?" Asher roared as he glared daggers at the seasoned huntsman who just calmly stared back at him while the councilors cleared their throats which made the lawman turn his gaze back to them.

"While you did manage to prevent some of the dust from being stolen and captured a dangerous criminal, these acts alone are not enough to salvage the hole you dug yourself in. Jared Asher, in the power invested in us from the people of Vale, we hereby strip you of your badge indefinitely. You will be able to keep your job for today, but come tomorrow you will state in an address to the public that you are willingly stepping down as acting police chief," the councilors ordered of the lawman who felt like someone reached into his chest, pulled his heart out, and crushed it in their hands, yet was just able to keep his composure.

"And if I don't play ball?" Asher questioned with an ever so slight growl causing Ozpin to sigh softly and shake his head as if to say "I'm sorry it had to come to this." while the councilors remained as stone faced as ever.

"Then you will be imprisoned for a long time for allowing two kidnappings on your watch, we will send your profile to every law enforcement agency in Vale which will prevent you from getting work in that field, and we will share the details of your failure to media outlets which will disgrace you in the eyes of the public. Additionally, once Lisa Lavender and Blake Belladonna are rescued, we will have the former be fired from her job and then placed under house arrest for seven months for vigilantism," the councilors mercilessly retorted without an ounce of remorse causing the police chief to snarl under his breathe as his feelings of dislike for Ozpin turned into outright scorn as he was tempted to shove the headmaster's cane where the sun didn't shine.

"Fucking muckrakers...fine, I'll go along with this bullshit your peddling," Asher huffed to which the councilors nodded while Ozpin remorsefully stared at the lawman and wished things could have gone differently.

"Very good, Chief. In light for your service to Vale, you may request any food items you wish for your retirement party so long as they aren't too outlandish," the councilors responded calmly before they cut off the call leaving only Ozpin on call causing the soon to be former lawman to glare at the huntsman with his fists clenched.

"Asher, I can assist you in finding a new job if you want-"

"Fuck you, Ozpin. I don't want a damned thing from you after what you just did so I'm just going to tell you one thing," Asher seethed through gritted teeth causing the headmaster to clasp his hands and calmly stare back at the lawman who pointed his finger right at him.

"One day, the council is going to start questioning your ability to protect the people of Vale and when someone comes along that they think can do a better job, you're going to be tossed to the wayside like me," Asher threatened which the headmaster took with grace and said in response "That day is closer than you think, Chief. Take care." before ending the call leaving the lawman alone in a dimly lit room to think about what he was going to do now.

"_I need to stay in the loop about what's going on and I need to rescue Lisa so I guess I have no other choice but to join the Valean Militia after tomorrow," _Asher thought while slumping forward on the podium and burying his face in his hands just as a knock came at the door.

"Chief, there's some huntsmen who want to talk to you," the voice from outside the door said causing the lawman to sigh heavily and shake his head before saying "I'll be out in a minute." Putting on his best brave face, Asher approached the door and swung it open where he saw the huntsmen who helped battle the White Fang at the docks standing before him.

"Oh hey, it's you guys. Thanks for your help back at the docks; it made capturing Torchwick and some of the White Fang's foot soldiers a lot easier," Asher earnestly told the huntsmen causing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Penny to beam with pride while Sun could hardly contain his excitement as he was in an actual police station, and not as a criminal.

"It was no problem, sir...well, that's not actually true. You see, we ran into this super strong girl and she kicked our butts and took one of our friends and she even broke Crescent Rose. That's my weapon by the way..." Ruby began only to go off on a tangent making Asher slowly nod with a raised brow causing Weiss, who saw this wasn't going anywhere, to clamp a hand over Ruby's mouth.

"What's she's trying to say is that it was our pleasure to help, but our friend was captured in the process which is why we would like to interrogate Torchwick and Deshret's captured miscreants," Weiss requested while removing her hand from Ruby's mouth causing the chief to understandingly nod and motioned for the huntsmen to follow him.

"Trust me, no one wants to make these guys talk more than I do, but they aren't saying a word," Asher replied as he lead them into the interrogation room where they stopped in front of the one way mirror where another officer was unsuccessfully trying to make the mob boss talk.

"I feel foolish; Lisa went and got herself captured to bring this bastard in and he hasn't told us a damn thing," the lawman continued as Ruby and Penny jolted when the officer in the interrogation room lost his cool and slammed his hands down on the metal table which brought no end of amusement to the mob boss.

"Look, if you guys think you can make them talk, be my guest, but don't be surprised if you don't come away with anything," Asher warned the huntsmen causing the remnants of Team RWBY to nod before requesting that he bring Jin and Wilma into an interrogation room which the police chief obliged.

"Go get yourselves set up; I'll be back in a moment," Asher told them while walking towards the holding cells with a fellow officer causing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Penny, and Sun to strategize with one another as how best to go about this.

"Okay, Penny, Sun, and I will be good cop. Weiss and Yang, you'll be bad cop," Ruby ordered causing the fencer, brawler, and the android to readily nod in agreement with Penny hardly able to contain her excitement while Sun rubbed the back of his head.

"Aw, but I always wanted to be bad cop," Sun whined causing Ruby to groan and say "Okay, you can be a bad cop." to which the kung fu fighter broke out into a grin as an officer lead them into an interrogation room.

"This is so exhilarating, Ruby! I promise I'll do my best!" Penny to which Ruby smiled warmly and nodded as Asher and one of his men brought the two White Fang soldiers into the room and handcuffed them to the table.

"Alright, we'll be on the other side if you need help," Asher assured the huntsmen before leaving the room with his fellow to which Ruby and her friends nodded before focusing on the two restrained White Fang soldiers. Jin, despite her inferior position, took one look at the gaggle of huntsmen and snickered rudely causing Wilma to glance at her with a raised brow while Yang narrowed her eyes.

"You need five people to interrogate someone?" Jin remarked causing Yang to slam her hands down onto the table which made it fold inwards like sheet metal making Wilma let out a small gasp and lean as far back from the huntress as possible. Jin, however, remained unflappable even as the blonde brawler's leaned her face as close to hers as possible.

"That's not important; what is is the location of your little hideout so you'd better start talking or things are going to get...rough," Yang retorted as her eyes turned a shade of crimson and to up the intimidation factor, fully brandished Ember Celica causing Sun, not willing to go as far as Yang, to direct as fierce a a glare towards the captured grunts as he could muster. Weiss, after confusedly looking between them, settled for Yang's approach and unfurled Myrtenaster.

"Hey, there's no need for that!" Wilma protested causing the blonde brawler to immediately round on the White Fang soldier and grab her by the collar where she hoisted Wilma, all 310 pounds of her, up into the air as if she weighed nothing.

"I remember you; you brutalized my little sister when she couldn't fight back. How about I return the favor?" Yang growled as she chambered a slug into one of her gauntlets and reared a fist back causing Wilma to tense up while Jin stood up from her chair only for a black glyph to tug her back down.

"It-it was nothing personal!" Wilma squeaked not unlike a rat as Yang was about to follow through on her threat only for Ruby to place a hand on her sister's shoulder making the brawler glance at her.

"Yang, this isn't helping," Ruby told her sister causing the brawler to snort before releasing the White Fang grunt who crashed back down onto her chair with a loud thud. Yang then proceeded to raise a brow as Penny tapped her chin and stared at Jin intently to which the White Fang soldier narrowed her eyes as the android approached the table.

"You are Jin Hu, a history teacher from the former settlement of Kuroyuri in Mistral. With your credentials, you would have been able to find work in Argus or the city of Mistral so why assist the White Fang?" Penny inquired with a tilt of her head causing Jin to release a breathe as the android reminded her of some of the students she had been fond of so she tried to keep her tone forceful, yet subdued for her response.

"You think I didn't try? I was always turned down just because I was a faunus and they always hired a human over me even if they were less qualified. When I did find work, the students treated me like shit and I got death threats from human supremacists on a daily basis," Jin answered causing Penny to tilt her head as her mind simply couldn't process such hardship at this point in time while Ruby was sure if Blake were here, she would be able to empathize with the former teacher better than they could.

"Judging from your attitude, I'm guessing you didn't leave," Sun pointed out causing Jin to nod slowly as she put her face down, removed her eye patch, and took off her surgical mask causing collective gasps to come from the huntsmen's and Wilma's mouths. While they expected a cybernetic eye, they were unprepared to see that Jin's chin, jaw, mouth, and even teeth were completely replaced with cold, metallic cybernetics. Ruby, Penny, and Sun for their part, couldn't comprehend how someone could do such a thing while Weiss, though not fond of the White Fang, felt a sense of pity for the foot soldier.

"You would be right," was all Jin said as she opened her mouth showing that even her tongue, gums, and the inside of her maw entirely were cybernetic as well which made Yang cringe as she wouldn't wish such harm upon anyone.

"My mom said that some humans could be...violent towards us but I didn't think-"

"It's fine, Wilma. You couldn't have known," Jin lightly interrupted her cohort as Penny then shifted her attention to Wilma who warily stared back at the android who let out a small "Oh."

"You are Wilma Beekman; your father serves in the Mantle Wall Defense Division, you have an adopted older sister called Ashanti, and your mother, Ainsley Beekman, is working for the White Fang like you are. Why is it that she couldn't find legal employment?" Penny innocently inquired with absolutely no malice behind her words, yet this still caused the White Fang soldier to huff.

"My dad has been MIA ever since I was thirteen and my mom was struggling to make ends meet even with Ashanti and I dropping out of school to help her. What was she supposed to do? Let us starve?" Wilma retorted to which Sun understandingly nodded as he remembered his family being in rough spots financially when they used to live in Vacuo while Weiss, though her general view of the White Fang didn't change, was sympathetic to the foot soldier's plight.

"That doesn't excuse what you or anyone in the White Fang do! Speaking of the White Fang, start telling us where they're hiding at or this is going to get ugly!" Yang demanded while pounding her fist on the table making the furniture fold in even more causing Wilma to jolt and feel beads of sweat pouring down her brow while Jin didn't flinch in the slightest.

"What if it was your friend who got captured? Wouldn't you want to know where they were so you could help them?" Ruby added, appealing to whatever sense of nobility the two White Fang grunts had which actually got through to both of them as they glanced at one another with Wilma deferring to Jin for a decision. Sighing, Jin considered the fallout of letting information slip into enemy hands, but then remembered Deshret telling her that they would leave the White Fang with Wilma, Ashanti, and Ainsley should the organization begin to self-destruct. With that in mind, Jin didn't seem the harm in telling them what they needed to hear while leaving out some details as a precaution, but Yang beat her to the punch before she could even open her mouth.

"You know, our dad lost the love of his life twice and sure, he struggled to make ends meet at times too, but he never considered resorting to crime like your mom did," Yang told Wilma and immediately, it was as if someone flicked a switch in Wilma's head as her nervous gaze was replaced with a calm, but fierce glare.

"If you guys lived in Mantle, you would have," Wilma retorted with a razor sharp edge to her voice causing Jin to nod in agreement as on second thought, withholding the information from them for the time being seemed to be the smart decision.

"Or if you faced the hardships faunus go through in Mistral," Jin added causing the blonde brawler to snort as she briefly looked at the White Fang grunt for a moment before refocusing on Wilma.

"No, we wouldn't. Our dad is huntsmen so he would have been able to find work and even if he was a faunus, he would have found a way and he wouldn't have resorted to joining the White Fang so your excuses to justify your actions aren't holding," Yang shot back making Wilma ground her teeth and her lips to quiver violently as her expression darkened causing Sun to nervously glance at the blonde brawler who's eyes turned a shade of crimson.

"Um...Yang...maybe we should let someone else take over," Sun advised the blonde brawler only for his guidance to fall on deaf ears as Yang propped her forearm on the table and leaned her face close to Wilma's.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does the truth hurt? If you want to stop hearing it, then tell us where they took Blake!" Yang roared while slamming her fist down on the table yet again, but this time Wilma just clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white causing Ruby to anxiously look between them as the White Fang solider stood up from her chair.

"I want to go back to my cell, please," Wilma politely requested through gritted teeth causing Yang to get right in her face as if they were two fighters facing off in a fighting ring causing Ruby to approach her big sister only for Penny to block her.

"Penny, what are you-"

"I'm sorry, Ruby, but from what I know of interrogations, the interrogators try to induce high stress levels in the suspects to break them down in order to acquire the desired information. I believe that this is what Mrs. Xiao Long is doing so I believe it's in our best interests to let her proceed," Penny murmured to which Ruby uncertainly glanced at the android and then at Yang and Wilma before hesitantly nodding in agreement.

"I hope you're right because she doesn't look like she's going to break down in the way Yang expects," Weiss whispered to which Penny analyzed the White Fang soldier's stress levels and saw that they were high so figured Yang must be on the verge of a breakthrough.

"Not until you tell us what you know!" Yang retorted causing tears to fall down Wilma's face and her breathing to become more rough and loud which was then amplified when the blonde brawler forcefully pushed her back down onto her chair.

"I want to go back to my cell, please," Wilma cordially asked once more, but in a more forceful tone as Yang grabbed her by her collar and tried to yank the White Fang goon toward her. However, Wilma put up resistance this time and tried to fight out of the blonde brawler's grip where she managed to grasp Yang's forearm.

"Why are you even protecting someone like Deshret anyway? If it was her sitting here, she would have sold you guys out in a heartbeat to protect her own skin!" Yang surmised causing Wilma to huff as she tightened her grip on the brawler's forearm and stared right into Yang's furious crimson eyes with her red, teary ones.

"You don't know anything about her!" Wilma snarled causing the huntress to huff as she finally managed to hoist the White Fang goon into the air and pulled her close so their foreheads were touching each others.

"Wilma's right; I've worked with Deshret for a long time and she trusts me with her life and vice versa. If you want to question anyone's loyalty, you need not look further than your so called friends standing in this room," Jin interjected once more causing Yang to tighten her grip on Wilma's collar and glower at Jin with her golden hair glowing as if it were a bright star in the night sky, but the White Fang soldier refused to be intimidated.

"What do you mean-"

"I mean that you've known these guys for what, 3-4 months at best? That's hardly enough time to form a close bond with someone, especially since your relationships were never truly put to the test. Take Blake for example; she ran from her parents, she ran from the White Fang, and when the chips are down, she'll run from you," Jin ruthlessly interrupted the blonde brawler who roughly tossed Wilma aside making the White Fang soldier wheeze as Yang grabbed Jin by her neck, yanked her out of her chair which broke her handcuffs, and slammed her against the wall causing spider web cracks to form on the surface.

"She wouldn't do that!" Yang yelled while pressing Jin into the wall even further making the White Fang goon grimace, but managed to maintain her cold, stone faced gaze on the huntress.

"The evidence is in front of you; you need only accept it," Jin calmly, but firmly retorted causing the blonde brawler's lips to quiver as she let the White Fang goon drop to the ground to which Jin winced when she landed on her tailbone.

"Oh, you think you're so smart, huh!? I may not know as much as Blake or the White Fang as you, but I do know that honorable front Deshret puts up is fake and she'll abandon you the moment you're no longer useful. Why else didn't she rescue you guys when she had the chance?" Yang ruthlessly inquired to which Wilma's breathing came out in stutters and tears freely streamed down her face with her teeth gritted.

"Um...Yang...seriously," Sun got out as he saw the White Fang goon's body language and knew it wasn't going to be good if she continued getting pushed, but Yang wasn't listening as she grabbed Wilma's shirt and tugged her to her feet.

"Penny said your mom is working with the White Fang too, right? Why didn't we see her at the docks with your sister? I guess she doesn't care about you as much as you thought," Yang informed the White Fang goon who widened her eyes, gnashed her teeth, and with strength that surprised Yang, shoved the huntress off of her. Gasping, Yang was sent tumbling to the ground as Wilma physically uprooted the table that was not only attached to the floor, but she was handcuffed to as well and slammed it against the brawler's chest as hard as she could. Cringing, the huntress covered up as she felt the wind get knocked out of her as before anyone could process what just happened, Wilma rounded on Yang like an animal on the hunt.

"**YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"** Wilma roared with a rat like squeak as she swung the piece of furniture like she was going for a home run which harshly connected with Yang's skull and made her feel as if her head was punched clean off of her shoulders. Crumpling onto one knee, Yang shielded herself with her arms while trying to regain her bearings as Asher and three officers burst into the room where all three of them tasered the White Fang goon. Grimacing, but remaining on her feet, Wilma glared at them, but her only gripe was with Yang so didn't attack despite being in perfect position to do so. Her hesitancy, however, enabled Sun to toss her to the ground with a deft hip toss where he along with Penny, Asher, and his men tried to restrain the White Fang goon who was slowly, but surely getting back up.

"Yang, are you okay?" Ruby concernedly asked while kneeling down next to her sister causing the brawler to give a pained nod as the scythe wielder and fencer grabbed her arms and helped her to her feet.

"Y-yeah, just give me-" Yang began to say only to wail in pain as Jin capitalized on everyone's confusion and tackled Ruby, Weiss, and Yang sending the blond brawler's head straight through the reinforced, bullet proof one way mirror leaving the huntress slumped against the wall in a groggy daze. While Ruby was trying to shake the cobwebs from her head, Jin planted her boot against the scythe wielder's face causing the back of her skull to harshly crash against the wall and then punt kicked Weiss across the face before she could grab her fallen rapier. Both huntresses were then left barely conscious as Jin took Yang to the ground and tightly wrapped her legs around her enemy's neck and grasped the back of Yang's head for extra leverage.

"Payback's a bitch, huh?" Jin snarled in a ferocious, tiger like manner as she popped out her claws making Yang yowl as the sharp digits dug into the back of her head. Gritting her teeth, the blonde brawler gripped Jin's leg for leverage and then proceeded to fiercely pound her ribs with harsh, semblance enhanced punches. Each of the blows elicited a retch from the White Fang goon and one particularly nasty liver shot made her cough up blood, but managed to keep her grip on her foe. However, she gasped when Yang picked her up, lifted her as high up as she could, and slammed her on the ground causing the floor to crack making Jin feel as if she fell from a mountain, but maintained her grip on the huntress.

Jin then hacked up blood as Yang slugged her kidney making the White Fang goon's breathe come out in sputtered bursts, but still didn't let go of the huntress. Seeing that Yang was holding on even with her applying as much pressure as she could, Jin then twisted her hips causing a very audible snap making the huntress spasm. Releasing a haggard breathe, Jin twisted her hips again causing another loud snap which made Yang wildly twitch before she went limp causing Jin to release her and roll off to the side in order to catch her breathe. Wilma, on the other hand, stopped struggling since there was no reason to and stopped Jin from helping her with a simple stare to which her superior stayed where she was. Upon seeing more officers rush into the room, Jin got onto her belly and put her hands behind her back as handcuffs were placed on her where she along with Wilma were roughly hauled to their feet.

"Get them out of here!" Asher shouted causing his men to nod as Wilma and Jin were forcibly dragged out of the room as the lawman knelt down next to an unconscious Yang.

"Is she..." a groggy Ruby asked as she crawled next to Yang and placed a hand on her shoulder causing Asher to check for a pulse and was relieved to find one. Next, he checked her body for any damage and upon seeing the nasty bruises on her neck, thoroughly inspected them and slowly shook his head.

"You're sister's lucky; her aura prevented her neck from getting snapped, but she's still going to need some rest," Asher informed the young huntress who laid down next to her sister and wrapped her arms around her as Weiss, having regained her bearings, limped towards them and knelt down next to them. Placing a hand on Yang's arm, Ruby gave her partner an appreciative grin causing Weiss to grunt as the scythe wielder looked back at the police chief.

"I see, thank you," Ruby replied causing Asher to nod as he ordered for someone to bring the medics as Penny covered her mouth when she saw the state Yang was in while Sun internally chastised himself for forgetting about Jin during the skirmish.

"I'm sorry, Wilma seemed like the submissive type so I didn't think she'd react the way she did," Asher admitted with a heavy sigh as the medics came into the room and wrapped a neck brace around Yang's neck.

"I don't think any of us did," Sun said to which Asher was silent as the one of the medics kept a firm grip on Yang's head while the others slowly turned the huntress onto her side before tying her to a scoop stretcher.

"We can try again when your sister is feeling better if you want," Asher offered to which Ruby wiped her tears away with her forearm and nodded as she, Weiss, Penny, and Sun followed the medics who were carrying Yang out of the room.

* * *

Groaning, Lisa suddenly felt as if her entire body was fire and as if someone was crushing her skull causing the reporter to groggily slump forward. Widening her eyes, Blake concernedly glanced at her while Lacey put her whetstone away and approached the reporter. Grabbing Lisa's head while wrapping her tail around Blake's neck so she wouldn't try anything, Lacey placed the back of her hand against the journalist's forehead and grunted.

"She has a fever; her wounds must have gotten infected," Lacey surmised causing Ashanti to guiltily stare at the reporter while Ebony sighed softly and approached Lisa who was still out of it.

"Her aura is going to have to make do then," Ebony replied as she took out a syringe, grabbed Lisa's head, tilted it back, and plunged the needle into her neck making the reporter gasp as whatever Ebony injected her with made the burning sensation in her body die down. The pain was still there, but it was simmering rather than burning which brought a sense of relief to Lisa as she felt her wounds slowly, but surely healing to an extent.

"Here, Blake. You need this too," Ebony stated to which the former right hand of Adam snorted as the arm cannon soldier took out another syringe and injected into Blake's neck which began somewhat healing the wounds the huntress suffered.

"Ebony, Lacey, please. Lisa needs a real doctor," Blake pleaded causing Ebony to sigh heavily while Lacey released a breathe and removed her tail from around her former ally's neck before sitting down in her chair.

"There's not much I can do, Blake. Adam and I have never seen eye to eye and it's only gotten worse once you left," Ebony replied truthfully causing Blake to huff and narrow her eyes at her former ally who blankly stared back at her while Lacey locked eyes with the huntress.

"We'll do what we can, but don't hold your breathe. Adam gives us a lot of assignments on the fringes of the perimeter to keep us out of his way and to try and get us killed," Lacey added making the huntress dip her head and shake it about before looking up at both of her older, former peers causing Ebony to raise a brow while Lacey was stone faced.

"Ebony, Lacey, please. You know what the White Fang is doing is wrong so why are you helping them?" Blake asked in a pleading tone causing Ebony to release a breathe while Lacey remained silent as both recalled the atrocities they committed in the past with Ebony recalling her assassinations of countless, high ranking employees in the SDC and relatives of the Schnee family. The fallen hero, on the other hand, remembered feeding the children who falsified statements about her teammate which lead to his death by a lynch mob to a horde of beowolves, leaving a town to be slaughtered by the Grimm upon finding out they sacrificed their faunus neighbors to buy themselves some time, and massacring, by her count, four iterations of Ace Ops who were trying to bring her in a lifetime ago.

"I'm sorry, Blake, but it's too late for us. All we can do is lie in the bed we made no matter how uncomfortable it is," Ebony replied in a heavy, world weary tone to which Lacey grimly nodded in agreement causing Blake to ground her teeth while Ashanti scooted closer to Deshret for protection.

"It's not too late to change; you can still do the right thing and turn yourselves in," Blake implored, but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Deshret landed the aircraft in the White Fang's base causing the foot soldiers to stand up.

"I've missed your optimism, Blake, but it's misplaced. We can't turn back now considering what we've done which means I'm obligated to see what lies at the end of the path I've chosen even if I don't like the end result," Lacey responded leaving the huntress befuddled as the fallen hero grabbed Blake's arm while Ebony grasped a feverish Lisa's arm where they saw Adam, Adolf, Vickers, and a still wounded Ainsley waiting for them at the bottom. Ebony and Lacey respectively groaned before leading the prisoners down the ramp with Ashanti and the sharpshooter bringing up the rear while Deshret walked beside the soulless soldier and the fallen hero.

"Ah, so nice to see you, my darling," Adam purred in a calm, predatory tone as he cupped Blake's chin in his hand to which the huntress hissed and turned her head while Adolf roughly grabbed Lisa by her shirt collar and harshly yanked her out of Ebony's grip.

"This is the reporter who keeps nipping at our heels! I say we teach her what happens when someone messes with the White Fang!" Adolf urged as he revved up his chainsaw and pressed the spinning teeth against the side of her face making the reporter scream as her flesh was torn apart like in a meat grinder. Widening her eyes, Ashanti and Ainsley stared at Deshret who was about to intervene, but Ebony beat her to the punch by pushing Adolf's chainsaw away with her arm blade.

"The Vytal Conventions prohibit the cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners," the soulless soldier stated calmly, but firmly causing Adolf to cruelly sneer while Adam laughed scornfully.

"I'm getting a lesson in morality from you?" the Crimson Scourge asked with a disdainful smirk to which Ebony nodded, retracted her arm blade, and folded her arms.

"Someone has to make sure the White Fang adheres to some standards and if that someone has to be a fucked up monster like me, than so be it," Ebony retorted, but all Adam did was scoff as he pulled out Wilt and pressed the cold steel against Blake's throat making the huntress wince.

"How long has it been, my love? Not too long ago, you were on board with what we were doing," Adam murmured while gently tracing Wilt across her neck causing Blake to tremble as she felt trickles of blood pour down her body only for Ebony to intervene yet again and push Adam's sword away with her arm blade.

"Adam, stop. Lisa and Blake need to get treated for their wounds," Ebony pointed out to which Adam took his measure of the captive's injuries and while they were severe, that wasn't his problem.

"If you think that we're going to care for a traitor and a whistleblower, then you're more messed up in the head than I thought," Adam responded causing Ebony to resist the urge to groan as she expected that kind of answer and gave Blake an subtle, apologetic shrug which the huntress ignored.

"At least give us a medical kit or something," Blake begged causing Adam to land a harsh, stiff punch to his ex-lover's gut making the huntress dry heave and spit up a glob of saliva before going limp in Lacey's arm.

"Why, so you can take advantage of us again? So you can take advantage of me again!?" Adam snarled as he kneed Blake in the face making her head violently snap back and making her feel lighter than air as blood poured down her broken nose and busted lip. Ashanti widened her eyes at the scene while Ainsley cringed as Adam rounded on the barely coherent huntress to dish out more punishment only for Lisa to speak up.

"Leave her alone!" Lisa barked causing Adam to wheel around and viciously bash her across the face with Blush causing blood to fly from Lisa's mouth and a nasty bruise to form over one of her eyes.

"And what are you going to do if I don't, huh?" Adam snarled as he tugged the reporter out of Ebony's arms, tossed her to the ground, and stomped on her bruised, bleeding midsection making Lisa wail at the top of her lungs. Seeing tears form at the corner of Blake's eyes as she could only helplessly stare at the spectacle before her brought a smirk to Adam's face as he grinded his boot down on Lisa who threw her head back and screamed bloody murder.

"You know, Blake, I've learned something-" Adam began to say only to be knocked flat on his ass when Lacey clubbed him across the face with the crossguard of her longsword sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Widening his eyes, Adolf revved his chainsaw making Ashanti, Ainsley, Vickers, and the sharpshooter point their rifles at him while Ebony unfurled her arm blade and leveled her arm cannon at both of her superiors.

"I believe Ebony has already explained how we are going to be treating the prisoners," Lacey stated while aiming her crossbow at him and brandishing her longsword and dagger.

"I heard, and I don't care. The humans, especially Ironwood, don't use the Vytal Conventions when dealing with us so we won't use them when dealing with them," Adam retorted while aiming Blush at the knight errant as Ebony, Lacey, and Deshret, as much as they didn't want to, conceded that Adam had a point in regards as to how the Atlesian Military treats White Fang prisoners.

"We know they don't, but you need to learn that total war isn't good for anyone," Ebony advised Adam with Lacey and Deshret nodding in agreement as they've seen the results of such conflicts and regretted them. Adam,however, just snorted and sheathed his blade to which Adolf powered down his weapon causing the foot soldiers to warily lower their rifles while the arm cannon soldier and the fallen hero cautiously followed suit.

"If total war results in the faunus being dominant and the humans being suppressed, then I beg to differ. Now, run along; there's some powerful Grimm around the perimeter that our men are having trouble killing," Adam ordered in a tone that was seemingly calm, but Ebony, Lacey, and Deshret knew he was just a slight push away from snapping to which the knight errant glanced at the soulless soldier with an expression that all but said "We can take them." Giving a discreet nod in response, Ebony subtly mouthed "I know, but not now." causing Lacey to nod in agreement as she along with her superior and the sharpshooter walked away. Before departing, however, Ebony spared a glance at Ainsley who glowered at her with piercing, dark brown eyes before looking away. Accepting the shun with grace, Ebony politely nodded before leading her subordinates to mission control to ascertain where the problem Grimm were as Adam and Adolf then glared at Deshret who wasn't intimidated.

"As for you, I don't know exactly what happened, but I know that you, Ebony, and Lacey had something to do with Torchwick getting captured," Adam snarled to which Deshret, deciding that the truth, even though it would only serve to validate her superior's claim, was better than telling a lie for the sake of her warriors.

"We did; it was my idea to use Torchwick as bait while my team and I secured the dust that was away from the carnage of battle. I believe that this was for the best; Torchwick's allegiance with us was tenuous at best so he would have sold us out eventually, he would have been captured regardless given the amount of huntsmen and police there, and we brought more dust than he would have with the men you originally assigned him," Deshret explained in a well thought out manner, but all Adam heard was that three of his subordinates let one of Cinder's pawns get captured causing him to unfurl Wilt with a snarl and press the tip of the sword against her neck. Deshret, however, just held up her hand when her subordinates aimed their guns at the Crimson Scourge causing them to reluctantly lower their weapons.

"Do you have any idea what Cinder is going to do to me when she hears this?" Adam growled to which the desert fighter just blankly stared back at him as the Crimson Scourge suddenly widened his eyes and started chuckling lowly. Raising a brow, Vickers, Ashanti, and Ainsley exchanged glances with each other while Deshret just continued to stare at Adam with a wooden gaze as the folk hero pointed Wilt away from her.

"I just realized, she isn't going to do anything to me because _**you're **_going to tell her what you did. I have to warn you, Cinder isn't really one to tolerate things that go against her plan so she's most likely going to...teach you a lesson," Adam purred with an empty grin on his face as he glanced at Ashanti who felt a chill go down her spine as Ainsley protectively placed her behind her and unconsciously hissed at Adam which revealed her beaver fangs.

"Don't you threaten my girl," Ainsley growled, but the intimidation factor was offset by her grimacing and crumpling to her knees causing Ashanti to gasp and worriedly kneel down next to her mother with a hand on her shoulder. This, as one would expect, brought no end of amusement to the folk hero as he guffawed at Ainsley's agony and folded his arms.

"I'm sure Cinder and her associates would love to meet you and your other daughter too," Adam retorted with the same vicious smirk on his face causing Ainsley to snarl at him only for her expression to soften as Deshret placed herself in front of them with Vickers backing her up and narrowed her eyes at the folk hero.

"Careful whom you levy threats at," Deshret warned the Crimson Scourge with a calm, but fierce gaze causing Adam to snort as the desert fighter saw White Fang commandos like Adolf approaching them. While Deshret was confident she could take them all on even if Adam and Adolf were thrown into the mix, she was also confident her warriors would be killed as a result causing the desert fighter to step back while never taking her eyes off of Adam.

"Let's head back to the barracks; you guys need some rest," Deshret stated causing Vickers, Ashanti, and Ainsley to nod as Ashanti put her mother's arm around her neck and helped her walk with Deshret assisting her in this endeavor which made the foot soldier grin. Vickers, however, cast one last glare at Adam, Adolf, and the commandos before following his unit making the chainsaw wielder huff.

"We should deal with them, Adam," Adolf suggested as he grabbed Lisa by her hair and roughly hauled her to her feet making the reporter howl in pain. Blake, who was still out of it to an extent, heard her companion's cries causing her to try and stand to help only for Adam to place an arm around her throat which made her gag.

"We will, but I believe we have an interrogation to do and considering it's Blake, let's make it something special," Adam replied to which Adolf smirked as the duo along with a group of White Fang commandos dragged Lisa and Blake to the outskirts of the base where they saw perimeter security getting smaller and smaller as they went.

"Wh-where are you taking us?" Lisa asked with a slight stutter making Adolf smirked and a few of the commandos to chuckle which didn't inspire confidence in the reporter. Widening her eyes as the realization struck her, Blake strained in Adam's grasp causing the Crimson Scourge to increase the pressure around her throat making the huntress grimace and feel light-headed.

"Adam, you're not seriously-"

"This is what happens to traitors, Blake. You've always known that, but chose to ignore it," Adam interrupted to which the huntress wasn't able to muster a response as, after walking for what seemed like an eternity, came to a stop at an abandoned downtown district.

"Th-this is-"

"Mountain Glenn, part of it at least. More importantly, it's where we're going to interrogate you," Adam cut off his ex-lover as he and Adolf dragged their captives into a destroyed building and up the staircase which held despite it's appearance suggesting otherwise where they stopped at the third floor. Forcing Blake to the very edge of the building, the huntress desperately tried to maintain her footing as Adam kicked her in the crotch with his steel toed boot. Immediately, Blake let out a soundless scream and her pupils constricted to the size of dots as she crumpled to the floor tightly clutching her groin as she felt as if her entire lower body was destroyed.

"You remember what I was saying earlier, right? I've learned something about you; I can torture you as much as I want, but you don't care what we do to you," Adam explained as he glanced at Adolf and nodded causing his second to cut Lisa free to which the reporter could only confusedly stare at her captors while Blake feebly reached out to her only for Adam to step on her hand.

"You care what we do to those you love," Adam finished as a group of beowolves, their alpha, and a horde of creeps emerged from one of the ruined buildings causing Adolf to harshly slug Lisa across the face before she could react. Letting out a soundless scream as her head violently snapped to the side, Lisa was sent tumbling off the building where she blacked out from the blow and only regained consciousness when she hit the ground with a loud, harsh thud. Lisa proceed to throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs as one of her already injured arms completely snapped with a sickening crack which caused part of the bone to stick out her flesh which caked the ground with blood.

"Lisa!" Blake shouted as she tried to move only for Adam to punt kick her across the face making her slump to the ground and feel lighter than air as her former boyfriend lifted her head up and showed her pictures of her teammates.

"If you want to save her, tell me what their semblances are," Adam ordered causing Blake to glare at him as Lisa fought through the pain and scrambled to her feet where she desperately looked around for a place to hide.

"You're not going to uphold your end of the bargain!" Blake snarled to which Adam smirked and pulled his ex-girlfriend's face close to his to the point their noses were touching as Lisa hid in a abandoned market while trying to calm her breathing.

"My darling, can you really take that chance?" Adam inquired as both suddenly heard Lisa scream as she was tossed out of her hiding place by an alpha beowolf she didn't see. Harshly hitting the ground, tears streamed down Lisa's face as she howled in pain due to landing on her mangled arm making Blake widen her eyes.

"So what's it going to be, my love?" the Crimson Scourge inquired as he fired a few rounds from Blush which impacted the alpha beowolf and forced it back before it could finish Lisa, but was otherwise unharmed.

"...Fine, you win. The blonde one, Yang, is my partner at Beacon and her semblance is exactly like yours except that she uses her gauntlets to absorb damage. If you take her gauntlets away and she can't use her semblance," Blake explained which was mostly true save for some of the information being jumbled around to which Adolf typed the information on his scroll. Adam, meanwhile, shot a creep through the head when it lunged at Lisa who was weakly inching away from the oncoming horde with her only usable arm.

"You and Adolf have fought Winter before so just think of Weiss as a lesser, incomplete version of her. What I mean is that Weiss needs dust and her weapon to conjure her glyphs so if you take those away, you take away the threat she poses," Blake informed her ex-lover with her explanation being mostly true yet again to which Adam swung his blade which sent an arc of red energy which bisected the swarm of beowolves that nearly fell upon Lisa like a pack of starving hyenas.

"The one wearing the red cloak is Ruby, she's our team leader. Her semblance is to conjure rose petals that she can use to obscure the enemy's vision and hamper their movements. The increased speed she gets while using it is just an unintentional by-product," Blake told the Crimson Scourge who looked at her blankly for what seemed like an eternity before sending another arc of red energy at the two alpha beowolves and whatever remained of their pack which forced them back.

"Adolf," Adam called out causing his second to grab Gambol Shroud, unfurl the blade, and contemptuously toss the sheathe down onto the ground below before cutting Blake loose with his chainsaw.

"Go fetch, Blake," Adam mocked to which the huntress huffed as she deftly leaped down from the building and rolled the moment she landed on the ground where she retrieved her weapon and sprinted toward Lisa who was being mauled by the two alpha beowolves while the lesser ones stood idly by. Letting out a war cry, Blake leaped toward the monsters and kicked one of monsters which staggered it slightly while slicing the other across the back of neck eliciting a yelp from the creature of Grimm who buckled, but otherwise was still raring to go. Glowering at the huntress, one of the alpha beowolves glanced at its fellow who blankly stared back at it before refocusing on Blake where it let out a deafening roar. Cringing, Blake resisted the urge to fall to her knees and cover her ears as the creatures of Grimm charged at her simultaneously causing Blake to grit her teeth as they fell on her like savage beasts they were...at least so they thought. Just as they touched what they assumed to be Blake and Lisa, their forms ebbed away causing the younger beowolve's ears to perk up as they yowled and frantically scanned left and right for their quarry.

The two alpha beowolves, however, just snorted as they turned around and glared at Blake who was breathing heavily with beads of sweat pouring down her brow and standing atop an adjacent building. Moreover, Lisa was nowhere in sight causing the two demons to come to a silent agreement as one of them took two members of its pack to search for and finish Lisa while the other took the remainder of its pack, four members in total, to engage Blake. Releasing a labored breathe, Blake readied her weapon and spared a brief, subtle glance at a rusted, broken down delivery truck as the alpha beowolf jumped into the air, plunged its claws into the side of the building. Letting out another deafening howl, the monster began scaling the building at frightening speed while its two pack mates slowly followed behind it.

* * *

Giving an annoyed snort, a giant, beaver like Grimm with sharp, curved fangs, pointed, giant talons on its hind legs, a broad tail that looked like a razor sharp spade, a cracked face plate, and a heavily scarred, burly build waded through gunfire as if it were taking a leisurely swim upstream. Oh how it hated these thundersticks the primates and chimeras called "firearms." The darts they fired out came out far too fast for its liking, they were many a variation of these darts, and worst of all? They were a lot of them; and everyone from the lowliest chimera to the most uplifted primate seemed to have one. Brother God of Darkness, the weapons the slayers used even turned into thundersticks! However, the demon would take facing thundersticks and the elemental crystals over combating the warlocks and witches of the old world. Deciding it reminisced enough, the creature of Grimm lunged forward and swiped at one of its attackers which sliced through her aura like a knife through hot butter and completely cut her in half.

Ignoring the terrified screams of her cohorts when blood and viscera splayed onto them, the demon crushed another chimera's head by swinging its paw down onto his skull sending gore and brain matter flying and then decapitated the second to last one with a swift swipe of its tail. Seeing the last chimera tremble and drop its weapon, the White Fang soldier let out a soundless scream as the head of his companion rolled to his feet where he saw that her expression was stuck in that of abject horror. Peering into the chimera's soul, the creature of Grimm scowled as it decided that this one deserved a brutal death that only a Grimm could deliver. Far faster than the grunt could react to, the creature of Grimm wrapped him up in a bearhug, hoisted him up which left his legs helplessly dangling in the air, and squeezed as hard as it could. The demon wouldn't deny its inner nature and gave a cruel smirk as the chimera screamed as his bones cracked with sickening, audible snaps which caused shards of the constructs to pierce through his vital organs.

The monster's smirk widened as the chimera vomited a copious amount of blood onto its coat with some of the life giving substance even spraying from his ears and nostrils. Eagerly lapping up the blood with its tongue, the creature of Grimm took immense delight in the chimera twitching erratically and then feeling his life slip away in its arms as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Letting the foot soldier drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the demon wondered why the barrier the primates and chimeras called "aura" didn't protect it. Coming to the conclusion that this chimera along with its pack mates were just weak, the creature of Grimm trudged along while sniffing the air as it continued its hunt for the chimeras known as Adam, Adolf, Ebony, and Lacey. They once had the safety of their dens they called Kingdoms to rely on, but now they were in the wilds and together of all things! The thought of finally ending a hunt that spanned the entire world for such elusive quarry made the demon feel giddy. Finally, it could do unto its prey what they did unto others!

However, the creature of Grimm tempered its eagerness with the wisdom that it had more hunts to attend to in the future which caused it to focus as it continued to stalk the White Fang den. It was certainly surprised to see other beings other than its kin here; after all, none dared ventured here after the previous inhabitants were abandoned to the mercy of the horde by the den called Vale. Were they trying to recreate the den called Mountain Glenn, but make it exclusively for their fellow chimeras? Shaking its head, it continued to stalk its prey as the idea was outlandish and the White Fang, as it had learned, was not beloved by their fellow chimeras, even by some of those living among them. Suddenly, it sensed an acute pang of fear, terror, and desperation from up ahead and to its surprise, it wasn't coming from a chimera, but a primate.

Tilting its head, the demon picked up the pace and after what seemed like an eternity, came to a stop next to a building where it saw a slayer engaging an elder wolf and one pup. Moreover, the demon saw that the slayer had been disarmed and was forced to fight with nothing but tooth and claw which wasn't working out for her as the monster saw. Her blows were strong enough to stagger her kin, yes, but not enough to kill them which the elder wolf took advantage of by catching her ankle when she went for a kick and chomped on her skull where it forced her onto her back. The slayer screamed as her barely recharged aura was the only thing preventing from having her skull pierced and not helping this is while the slayer managed to dislodge her head from the elder wolf's maw, the pup chomped down on her hand and viciously swung its head about to try and tear off the limb. Howling in pain, the slayer saw her weapon lying on her side which she wasn't able to grasp due to holding off the elder wolf who was clawing at her midsection while still trying to bite her face.

Releasing a grunt, the creature of Grimm figured the slayer could hold on for a bit more as its eyes fell upon a delivery truck where it saw another elder wolf and some of its pack mates patrolling nearby due to sensing fear, but unable to determine where exactly it came from. Deciding to mislead its kin, it pointed in the direction of the second most acute emotion, spite, and saw...it was Adam! This detour was already proving its worth! Shaking these thoughts aside, the demon approached the broken down vehicle and determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what caught its attention prior. Lifting up the door, the monster saw a heavily injured Lisa who was barely conscious, had sweat drenching her whole body, and was breathing heavily which the creature of Grimm determined was from an infection. Upon seeing it, Lisa widened her eyes and desperately tried to scramble away from it only to forget in its terror the state one of her arms was in. Shrieking at the top of her lungs as she unconsciously put pressure on her mutilated arm which forced more of the bone to go out of alignment and poke out of her skin, Lisa crumpled onto her side sputtering erratically with tears streaming down her face as she couldn't even muster the strength to grip her arm.

Sparing a glance at the slayer who managed to throw the elder wolf off to the side which enabled her to grasp her fallen weapon, the creature of Grimm nodded and glowered at the other elder wolf and its pack mates with an expression that said "Back off, this prey is mine!" Not wanting to combat the demon, the elder wolf stood down causing its pack mates to follow suit as the monster got into the vehicle causing Lisa to kick the monster in the snout as hard as she could. The demon's head hardly snapped back however as it simply grabbed Lisa's ankle and pulled her toward it causing the reporter to go wild and punch, kick, scratch, and even bite in an effort to get the monster off of her. Unfortunately for Lisa, the monster took the blows without so much as flinching and pinned her only usable arm down causing the reporter to repeatedly headbutt the creature of Grimm's skull and ignored the fact that a nasty gash opened up on her forehead which made blow splatter everywhere with each successive blow. However, this only served to annoy the demon who grasped Lisa's face and forced it down to the ground causing Lisa to try in vain to free herself, but it was as if she was trying to push the moon out of orbit.

"BLAKE! BLAKE!" Lisa shrieked at the top of her lungs causing the huntress to look in the direction of the sound and could only say a silent "No." when she saw the other group of beowolves surround the delivery truck and a wechuge who had climbed into it with Lisa. Seeing this, Adam tauntingly gestured at the delivery truck causing Blake to try and go toward it only for the alpha beowolf she was fighting to chomp down on her shoulder and toss her backwards. Grimacing as she skidded across the ground, Blake couldn't help but let tears fall down her face as, unfortunately, she had to focus on the fight in front of her and hoped with everything she had that Lisa would still be alive afterwards.

Inspecting the reporter, the wechuge saw the damage that Lisa's arm was in and came to the conclusion that it was beyond saving in the state it was in. Tightly gripping Lisa's bicep to stop the blood flow, the monster lifted Lisa's arm up and cut off the limb from the elbow up with a strong, clean slice. At first, Lisa just jolted and felt her body break out into a cold sweat as she stared at her lopped of arm with trembling eyes before throwing her head back and screaming while flailing her legs. Leaning its head down, the wechuge devoured the chopped off limb and laid down on top of Lisa to give off the impression that it was slowly mauling her where, in reality, it was licking the amputation point to clean it all while ignoring the fact that Lisa was punching and its face. However, it yowled when Lisa dug three of her fingers into its eye causing it to lock its malevolent, red eyes with Lisa's terrified amber ones and bare its crimson fangs at her as if to say "Hold still, annoying primate!" This, understandably, had the opposite effect as Lisa redoubled her efforts to break free and felt her hand brush against a jagged, rusted, piece of metal which made her feel as if someone up there liked her.

Grabbing onto what she thought was her saving grace, Lisa repeatedly jabbed the pointed end of her improvised dagger onto the wechuge's neck, but the weapon was unable to penetrate it's thick, reinforced flesh. Worse, Lisa's weapon badly cut her hand to which the wechuge groaned and fended off stabs to its eye with its meaty forearm as after what seemed like an eternity for the reporter, the creature of Grimm stopped cleaning her wound. Grateful for the reprieve even though she was still trapped underneath the demon, Lisa was uncertain of what to do as the monster ripped off part of her shirt and placed it over the amputation point before tightly tying it. Getting off of Lisa who scrambled into a kneeling position, the reporter warily stared at the creature of Grimm who just stared at her while warding off the alpha beowolf and its pack mates with a savage snarl when they tried to move in.

"_I-it's just prolonging my suffering to feed off my emotions to get stronger! Well, it's not going to get anymore from me!" _Lisa resolved as she tightly gripped her improvised dagger causing more blood to drip down from her palm and put all of her weight behind a stab at the wechuge's eye when she thought it's guard was down. However, the creature of Grimm was more aware than she gave it credit for as it enveloped her tiny hand into its giant, baseball glove like one which stopped the blow dead in its tracks and caused the piece of metal to bend upon making contact with its flesh. Wincing, Lisa tried to free her hand only for the wechuge's arm not too budge an inch and even chomped on the monster's fingers like a rabid dog, but all this did was make the demon narrow its eyes. Increasing the pressure, Lisa screamed as she felt as if her hand was a coal getting crushed into a diamond and winced as she felt herself getting pulled out of the vehicle. Grunting as she fell onto the pavement on her knees, Lisa still tried to free her trapped hand which the wechuge ignored as it regretted that it had to treat her so roughly, but it had to keep appearances lest its kin attack it as well.

Forcing a cruel smirk onto its face, the demon gestured at a building a block away that was out of sight of the slayer, its quarry, and its quarry's pack mates. When it saw that the alpha beowolf and its companions weren't convinced, the wechuge deftly slashed Lisa across her midsection without hesitation causing the reporter to wail as the demon's claws left nasty looking, but ultimately superficial cuts. Warily nodding, the alpha beowolf followed the demon with its younger cohorts in tow just as Blake managed to finish off the other alpha beowolf by cutting off its head though it did manage to slash her across the thigh before expiring.

"Shit," Blake hissed as she grasped the fresh, stinging wound and glanced at where she left Lisa where her eyes widened in horror as she saw the reporter being dragged off by her hand by the wechuge. Releasing a labored breathe, Blake gave chase only to keel over onto all fours when she landed on a rooftop as the pain she was enduring finally caught up to her. Grimacing, the huntress clutched her midsection and climbed to her feet despite her body screaming at her to stop and grabbed her weapon. Hobbling over to the edge, she saw Lisa bite the wechuge's hand as hard as she could and didn't care that blood was seeping in between her teeth only to be unceremoniously tossed onto her face. Seeing the alpha beowolf and its pack mates lunge at Lisa who futilely covered herself with her forearm while curling into a fetal position, Blake growled and sprang into action.

However, she could only let out a silent gasp as the wechuge plunged its arm up to its elbow through the alpha beowolf's chest making the monstrous wolf let out a inhuman yelp as it tightly grasped the traitor's limb. Before the younger beowolves could process the change in situation, one of them was bisected by a strong, swift strike of the demon's tail causing black gore to fly through the air while the other had its chest caved in by a brutal kick. Letting out a strangled yelp, the young beowolf skidded across the ground before going still as black blood poured from its nostrils, ears, and mouth as a result of the strike before it disintegrated into dust which enraged the alpha beowolf skewered on the wechuge's arm.

Swiping at the traitor's face which made the monster wince, the alpha beowolf chomped off one of its ears and then plunged a bony spike on its forearm through the wechuge's shoulder which got stuck a quarter of the way in. Grimacing, the wechuge plunged its arm even further into its brethren's chest making the alpha beowolf dig the sharpened digits on its thumbs into the demon's eyes which popped and caused black, tar like blood to pour onto the monster's coat. Forcing down the pain, the wechuge's persistence paid off as the alpha beowolf turned into nothing but dust shortly afterwards causing the demon to snort. These kin were nothing but poor imitations, no doubt because they were the creations of the girl in the tower rather than the God of Darkness itself like it was. Had they been created from its lord, the fight would have certainly been more difficult.

Pushing these thoughts aside, the creature of Grimm regenerated from the wounds it suffered by using the negative emotions it gathered over the years and looked down at Lisa who grabbed a fallen pipe with a grimace and brandished it like a club while Blake readied her cleaver. Before it could convey that it meant no harm despite its prior actions, the demon's head suddenly snapped to the side when it sensed Adam and his entourage approaching their position causing the monster to lumber behind a building. Confusedly, Blake and Lisa stared at the demon who put a finger to its mouth before ducking into cover causing the duo to glance at each other, but didn't have much time to think of it as Adam and his entourage were suddenly right in front of them.

"How are you even alive right now!? Those Grimm should have torn you apart!" Adam shouted while leveling Wilt in Lisa's direction who said nothing as Blake ripped off part of her shirt and wrapped it around the feverish reporter's mangled hand.

"You know how Elder Grimm are, Adam. They'll prolong their victim's suffering to gain more power from their emotions if they think they can get away with it," Blake responded with a huff, but Adam wasn't convinced as he started marching toward her and to make things worse, Lisa fell unconscious not only from her fever, but also because of the full extent of pain her body was in due to the adrenaline wearing off. Tensing up, Blake prepared for another fight even though her aura had only begun to recharge yet again, but then saw something out of the corner of her eye causing her to lower her cleaver.

"That doesn't explain why she's still in one piece," the Crimson Scourge snarled to which Blake nodded slowly as she suddenly grabbed Lisa and jumped as far away from Adam as she could. Before Adam could process what just happened, Adolf shoved him out of the way just as a subway train crashed on top of the chainsaw wielder with a loud, deafening thud causing the ground to split open and send debris flying in all directions. Grimacing as he hit the ground, Adam looked over his shoulder and felt his jaw drop as he saw that his second was now nothing but a hand and a bloody, gory puddle. He got over his shock, however, when his instincts screamed at him to dodge causing him to roll to the side just as the wechuge's knee smashed onto the pavement where his skull once was. Quickly getting to his feet, Adam fired round after round at the Elder Grimm who blocked the shots with its forearm and even endured getting slashed by an arc of red energy courtesy of Adam's semblance. However, chunks of the flesh on its forearm were still sheered right off sending the hunks of black meat flying through the air which made the Elder Grimm, wince, but otherwise was still raring to go.

Glancing at Blake and Lisa, it gestured for them to follow it down a dark tunnel after backhanding a commando across the face so hard that his neck unnaturally twisted to the side causing the vertebrate to snap so completely that it shut down all of his lower body functions. This, quite understandably, caused the huntress to hesitate. Should she go with the unknown who could easily turn on them anytime it wanted even though its actions seemed to convey it wanted to help? Or should she stay with Adam, however horrible he was, due to at least knowing what to expect from him? Before she could even come to a decision, Ebony, Lacey, and the sharpshooter arrived on the scene and fired upon the wechuge who was conflicted on how to feel. It's quarry right in front of it at this very moment? This was too good to be true and as a precaution, thought it was. While it was certain it could take them now, it was better to be safe than sorry as it did have other hunts to attend to afterwards and besides, it managed to get one of its quarry. Blocking Lacey's overhead strike with its forearm and bashing her to the ground with a vicious backhand swipe and enduring the semblance enhanced stab to its chest which would have spilled its gut out if it had any vital organs, the wechuge chomped on Adam's skull as hard as it could which his aura barely resisted and tossed him aside like a ragdoll. Grimacing as he hit the ground, Adam looked up and saw the demon run down a dark tunnel and while he was tempted to give chase, not even he wanted to search for something in such a Grimm infested area.

"Adam, what in the absolute fuck?" Ebony groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose as Lacey wrapped gauze around Blake's mangled hand while the sharpshooter applied bandages around the various bite and slash marks she and Lisa suffered.

"You were supposed to be dealing with the problem Grimm!" Adam snapped while tightly clutching his head as the fallen hero took off the impromptu bandage on Lisa's amputation point and applied an actual one causing Ebony to huff and roll her eyes.

"We were, and one of those problem Grimm happened to be the Wechuge who reports said was in this area!" Ebony shot back with an exasperated roar causing Adam growl as Lacey and the sharpshooter finished applying bandages to Blake and Lisa's wounds where the fallen hero hoisted the reporter onto her shoulder.

"Don't talk back to me! Sienna put me in charge-"

"I don't care if **_High Leader _**Khan did! You've demonstrated you're clearly not mature enough to handle these sort of things so Blake and Lisa are **_my_** prisoners from now on!" Ebony sharply interrupted the Crimson Scourge who attempted to unsheathe Wilt to slice her in half only for Ebony to have her arm blade at his throat and her arm cannon primed to fire before he could do so.

"When are you going to grow up?" Ebony snarled as she shoved the Crimson Scourge to the ground and escorted Blake and Lisa back to base with her subordinates causing Adam to roar as he nearly went on a rampage right then and there. He only stopped when Ebony suddenly wheeled around and fired off several, quick, powerful shots from her arm cannon which pierced through the skulls of his remaining commandos causing superheated blood and gore to splatter onto the ruined pavement. Staring at his now dead subordinates in shock, the Crimson Scourge snarled and begrudgingly sheathed Wilt as he stared at the remains of what used to be his second before heaving Adolf's chainsaw onto his shoulder and lagging behind Ebony all while glaring daggers at her. Arriving back at base after walking for a while, Ebony, Lacey, and Adam exchanged glowers with one another before the former lead their prisoners to their cells while the latter retreated to his barracks, no doubt to take his anger out on his unfortunate possessions.

"Get in, don't try anything funny," Ebony ordered causing Blake to grunt as she went inside the cell and placed her hands against the wall to show that she wasn't a threat as Lacey placed Lisa down on one of the beds.

"Alright, I'm going to go to Deshret's quarters and ask if she and her unit can lend a hand watching over them; no way Adam isn't going to try something later. Then I'm going to the infirmary to see if any of the doctors would be willing to help our prisoners," Ebony explained causing Lacey and the sharpshooter to nod as they stood guard at either side of the cell and departed, but not before leaving a med kit for Blake and Lisa. Snorting, the huntress grabbed the case and pilfered through it and found the aura boosters much to her relief. Injecting herself with one, Blake released a breathe as she felt her injuries slowly mending themselves and then injected an unconscious Lisa who grimaced, but then sighed softly as her wounds began healing. Nodding, Blake wiped the sweat from her brow and got into bed where she closed her eyes to get some rest while trying to forget about the hell she currently was in.


	3. Chapter 3 Ruination

Ch.3

Ruination

_RWBY is the property of its respective owners, Ocs belong to me_

"I knew the White Fang was bad, but...who is Cinder anyway?" Ainsley inquired with a pained breathe as Deshret pushed open the door to their barracks and carried her over to a bed with Ashanti's assistance.

"I don't know, but I was there when she and her cronies...recruited us and out of all the troops, I was the only survivor," Vickers responded which didn't inspire confidence in Ainsley as she looked over at Ashanti who was sitting down next to her. Maybe...maybe it was time to cut her losses and leave the White Fang with her daughters and find somewhere else to live. Somewhere far away from this Cinder character so she and her family can live out their days in peace.

"Ainsley, I give you my vow that I will rescue Jin and your daughter, but leaving once Wilma is freed will seal your fates," Deshret cut in which shook Ainsley from her stupor as she could only stare at the desert fighter with wide eyes.

"How did-"

"I saw it in your expression; you're worried, rightfully so. You've heard of Tukson, correct? He left to live out the rest of days as a humble bookshop owner and only to be slain by Cinder's enforcers. A sad fate indeed that befell the most principled member of the White Fang," Deshret solemnly stated making Ainsley look down at the ground before releasing a breathe.

"Deshret...you and Jin have been so kind to us ever since we joined a while back, but staying here simply isn't safe for us anymore," Ainsley replied and to her surprise, Deshret nodded in agreement causing both mother and daughter to raise a brow.

"I know, you're in...quite the predicament," Deshret responded as she leaned against the counter and put a hand on her chin as she wracked her brain for solution. Staying in Vale was too risky even if they got new identities and lived along the fringes of the city while living in Vacuo carried greater risk since it was a lawless wasteland where Grimm and bandits ruled. Sending them back to Mantle would just be cruel and so would sending them to Mistral as they would most likely end up in the White Fang again. Suddenly, a knock came at the door causing the desert fighter to gesture at her warrior's weapons.

"Enter," Deshret stated calmly while warily gazing at the door, but relaxed when she saw it was just Ebony who politely nodded at them. While Deshret and Vickers returned the gesture, Ainsley forced down the pain she was in, got out of bed, and protectively placed herself in front of Ashanti which the soulless soldier noticed, but accepted with grace.

"Hiya, what brings you here?" the desert fighter inquired while gesturing at a bed causing the arm cannon soldier to sit down and noticed Ainsley and Ashanti watching her every move like hawks which Ebony didn't take issue with.

"Well, Adam performed 'advanced interrogation' on Blake and Lisa causing both of them to look like they're at death's door. I, along with my fireteam, took offense to that since we've already stated how the prisoners should be treated so I killed Adam's commandos and put Lisa and Blake under my fireteam's imprisonment," Ebony explained causing Deshret to nod slowly while Vickers pursed his lips as he was never fan of the commandos whom he deemed fanatics in every sense of the word. Ainsley herself, despite her misgivings with Ebony, found it hard to fault her for committing such an act.

"Adam is not going to take that lying down so I'm assuming you've come here to ask for help in guarding the prisoners?" Deshret surmised to which Ebony nodded causing the desert fighter to consider the possible benefits and consequences agreeing to this request would entail. If Ainsley, Ashanti, and Wilma were on guard duty, then it would deter Cinder's enforcers from attacking them if only because there would be so many witnesses. Then again, they risked being ostracized from the rank and file for playing nice with a traitor, and a huntress in training no less, along with a human who constantly exposed the true nature of the organization any chance she could.

"Not only guard them, but make sure the Vytal Conventions are followed in regards to their treatment," Ebony added causing the desert fighter to nod slowly as she was still considering what could happen to her and her warriors if they took this deal before coming to a decision.

"We'll help watch over the prisoners, but I must ask of you something," Deshret requested and to her surprise, Ebony locked eyes with her and determinedly nodded.

"If you're asking that I come with you to rescue Wilma and Jin, then you don't need to," the arm cannon soldier remarked which made the desert fighter appreciate Ebony's help in that matter, but not everyone was as grateful.

"I don't want your fucking help! I don't even want you to be in the same room with either of my girls!" Ainsley roared as she preferred to remember the Ebony whom she was best friends in middle school and not the Ebony who went on a nigh unstoppable rampage throughout Argus when they were both thirteen.

"Ainsley-"

"Shut up! Do you have any idea how many dead you left in your wake!? How many people you left traumatized!? You're more of a psychotic bitch than I thought if you think I'm going to let you anywhere near-"

"Ainsley, enough. Ebony, we are grateful that you and your fireteam are going to help, but that is not what I was asking of you," Deshret calmly, but firmly interrupted the reluctant soldier who indignantly huffed as Ebony raised a brow and motioned for Deshret to speak.

"I want you and your fireteam to look out for us and in turn, we will look out for you," Deshret requested causing Vickers to purse his lips as he certainly found no problem with it while Ainsley looked like she was going to flip her lid.

"You're sure you want to be associated with people like Lacey and I even more than you're already going to?" Ebony asked causing the reluctant soldier to gaze at her leader with an expression that said "We don't, please." while Ashanti anxiously grounded her teeth.

"I do, in spite of the numerous atrocities you and Lacey have committed," Deshret responded in a calm, well thought out manner which made the reluctant soldier scrunch her brow and groan lowly while Ashanti scoffed.

"Alright, Blake and Lisa's cell is near the airfield so if you could send some of your guys, it might just deter Adam and any commandos he decides to bring. I'm going to the infirmary to get one of the doctors to look over the prisoner's wounds" Ebony stated while extending her arm towards Deshret who tightly clasped the soulless soldier's forearm. Nodding, Ebony broke off of the hold and exited the room where Ainsley waited until she was sure the arm cannon soldier couldn't hear them before rounding on her leader.

"Deshret, I don't want her help!" Ainsley protested causing the desert fighter to understandingly nod and clasp her warrior's shoulder to which the reluctant soldier narrowed her eyes.

"I know, but there's safety in numbers and said safety has increased now that we have them looking out for us," Deshret reasoned, but the reluctant soldier wasn't convinced and by proxy, neither was Ashanti making the desert fighter sigh softly.

"Once we get Wilma, we'll find someplace safe for you and your daughters to hide out and give you sufficient funds so that you don't have to take such desperate measures again," the desert fighter assured Ainsley who widened her eyes as she wondered if her motives were that obvious while Ashanti thought as long as they weren't going back to Mantle, then she was fine with anywhere.

"Deshret...that's not-"

"It's fine, I know you're only with the White Fang to pay the bills and put food on the table. I won't bring you or your family any further into this war than you want," Deshret declared causing the reluctant soldier to stare at the desert fighter for a moment and after some hesitation, scooped up Deshret into a tight, affectionate embrace.

"Thank you," Ainsley said in a voice barely above a whisper as Deshret returned the hug and saw Ashanti leaning against the wall while gripping her arm and looking down at the floor. Hesitantly breaking off the hug, Deshret walked over to Ashanti and put a hand on her shoulder causing the White Fang goon to raise her head and look up at the desert fighter.

"What happened wasn't your fault," Deshret genially assured Ashanti before pulling her into a hug causing the foot soldier to go stiff for a moment before returning the embrace. Suddenly, Deshret's scroll started beeping causing to break off the embrace and turned to all of her warriors.

"Vickers, Ashanti, help Gates and Lacey watch over Blake and Lisa. Ainsley, get some rest," Deshret ordered causing Ashanti and Vickers to nod as the former hugged her mother while the latter gave Ainsley a two finger salute before they both exited the room.

"What are you going to do?" Ainsley asked as she got into her bed with a grimace and pulled the sheets over her with a wince causing the desert fighter to engage the quarter's security system just in case they were any unexpected breaches.

"Attend to business," Deshret answered as she approached a part of the wall and placed a burning, glowing hand on a certain section of it causing the structure to split in half reveal a dark, shadowy room. Ainsley along with Ashanti, Wilma, and Vickers had seen her go in there countless times, but only Jin seemed to know the real reason why she went in there. When asked, Deshret would always answer with "Business, both personal and pertaining to the White Fang." Deciding that Deshret deserved to keep some secrets considering her treatment of them, the reluctant soldier glanced at the myriad of patches of synthetic, metallic flesh marring her shoulders, arms, legs, chest, midsection, and back, with one patch in particular replacing her entire bicep, and thought of Wilma's current predicament making her dip her head. Meanwhile, Deshret let the flame in her hand ebb away which left her in complete darkness with not even her species innate night vision helping her see. However, the desert fighter walked through the abyss with practiced ease and came upon a console which she placed the scroll in and answered the call.

"Melanie, Militia, what news do you bring?" Deshret inquired as two separate screens for the twin bouncers projected from the console and dimly lit up the room with a blue light.

"That we have a better idea of where not only the Fall Maiden is, but the relic as well," Militia answered as she showed the desert fighter footage of Ozpin's office from across a rooftop where, despite the camera angle not being the best, saw Ironwood, Qrow, and Glynda walking over to a specific part of the wall for whatever reason. Nodding, Deshret put a hand on her chin as judging from the film, there might be a secret entrance of some sort. It was tempting to capture Glynda, Ironwood, Qrow, or Ozpin himself to gain entry and it was certainly something she would have done a lifetime ago. However, individuals like these were why she usually didn't take prisoners if she could help it; they were often more trouble than they were worth.

"Judging from the video, Ozpin must have a secret entrance somewhere in his office which we will find and open. Great work, both of you," Deshret genuinely complimented her partners causing Melanie to smugly smirk while Militia let an ever so slight grin tug at the corner of her lips.

"We do nothing less; so, when we attack Beacon, who are you going to bring? Obviously, you're going to bring Jin even though Militia and I are the only help you need, but is there anyone else you've considered?" Melanie inquired while folding her arms causing the desert fighter to think of her unit and Ebony's fireteam. Obviously, Ainsley, Ashanti, and Wilma were out of the picture as much as she enjoyed their company and they hers, but Vickers just might prove to be a worthwhile addition.

"I was considering bringing Russet Vickers into the fold and should they prove trustworthy, Ebony Satsuma, Lacey La Montagne, and Auburn Gates," Deshret replied causing Melanie to cringe upon hearing the first two mentioned names while Militia stared at the desert fighter with her brow raised and her hands on her hips.

"Deshret, Ebony and Lacey can quite literally fill an entire water park with the blood they've spilled and there would still be a lot left over," Militia bluntly pointed which the desert fighter acknowledged making the twins stare at Deshret as if she grew a second head. Seeing this, Deshret held up her hand and beckoned them to let her explain.

"I know, but I have seen their noble sides so maybe they aren't too far gone," Deshret responded to which the twins exchanged glances with one another and shrugged with Melanie adding "I hope you know what you're doing." to which the desert fighter grunted.

"There are other matters I wish to take care of; could you two bring up footage the in the VPD's holding cells?" Deshret requested causing the twins to raise a brow, but complied as Militia brought up the footage of the south and west wing while Melanie brought up the footage of the north and east wing. Putting a hand on her chin, Deshret meticulously looked over all of the footage where she saw a copious amount of White Fang foot soldiers sitting around their cells and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Wilma and Jin in their cell.

"Good, the police haven't moved them yet. Melanie, Militia, you are familiar with Jin, but the other young lady is called Wilma Beekman, one of my warriors within the White Fang. I want you two to delay the police moving them for a week at most; by then, I'll have a plan and the means to free them. If I don't, then we'll settle for brute force," Deshret ordered causing Melanie and Militia to nod as the former worked on gathering the necessary information on the White Fang goons before forging the necessary documents. The latter, on the other hand, hacked into the VPD's database, searched up the high ranking police officers, and discerned which one of them were susceptible to bribes.

"We'll go with you even though beating up rent-a-cops isn't our idea of a challenge," Melanie boasted making Militia huff and roll her eyes while Deshet, used to this kind of bluster from the bouncer, just chuckled. Militia, however, suddenly gave a surprised gasp causing Melanie and Deshret to look over at her causing the claw wielder to bring up the footage of Wilma and Jin's interrogation on the screen. Deshret proceeded to narrow her eyes when she saw Yang brutalizing her warriors only to widen her eyes when she saw Wilma break the huntress' grip, throw her against the wall, and tear the table she was handcuffed to off of the ground.

"I guess our training paid off," Deshret remarked as she watched Wilma batter Yang with the steel table over the head causing Melanie to cheer like she was ecstatic fan watching their team score the winning point in the championship game. Said cheering then became deafening when the trio saw Jin bash Yang's skull through the one way mirror and then choke her out with even Militia unable to hide a subtle, ever so slight grin.

"Yeah, serves that bitch right!" Melanie proclaimed with a fist pump causing Militia to mutter "Someone's a sore loser." under her breathe making her twin glare at her and put her hands on her hips.

"She humiliated us so forgive me for wanting some payback. Next time I see her..." Melanie began as she activated her recently unlocked semblance causing her to glow white. When the light subsided, it revealed Melanie who was of equal, if not slightly bigger build than Yang.

"There's going to be a reckoning," Melanie finished and to up the intimidation factor, took her aura up to its maximum output causing her veins to glow a bright, bluish-white color. Pursing her lips and giving an impressed nod, Deshret thought Melanie just might be able to to give the blonde brawler a run for her money should they cross paths again.

"I'll say it again, someone's a sore loser," Militia remarked causing Melanie to huff as she deactivated her semblance causing her to return to her normal size and reduce the output of her aura causing her veins to no longer be visible through her flesh.

"Indeed, but I digress. I also need you guys to help me find a home for Wilma, Ashanti, and Ainsley Beekman as they only joined the White Fang out of desperation. Preferably somewhere they can live comfortably and without the threat of someone recognizing them," Deshret explained causing the twins to nod as they set aside their paperwork for the time being and pulled up a holographic world map of Remnant.

"Hmm, the best place would be Menagerie since the people there tend to not want to get wrapped up in the kingdom's drama. However, the White Fang have a minor presence there, and by minor, I mean they have that creepy cult stationed in the heart of the city," Melanie responded while bringing up the profiles of Corsac and Fennec Albain, Trifa, Yuma, and Ilia Amitola making Deshret pinch the bridge of her nose.

"What if they stayed in the outskirt villages? Would they be able to avoid detection?" Deshret asked causing Melanie and Militia to shake their heads as they brought up articles about murders happening in the outskirt villages. Tellingly, all the victims were former White Fang members who defected causing the desert fighter to resist the urge to let out a long, frustrated groan.

"Look, I say it's worth the risk since they're just foot soldiers so the cultists might leave them alone so long as they keep their heads down," Melanie pointed out to which Deshret nodded slowly and looked off to the side for a moment..

"Slight problem, Wilma and Ashanti are not the type to keep their heads down," Deshret replied causing Melanie to purse her lips and nod due to being more understanding of such a trait.

"Well, when you send them on their way, just tell them to pick their battles carefully," Melanie advised where Militia added "We'll have transport ready for them whenever you give us the go ahead." causing the desert fighter to smile.

"Thank you, both of you. My last request for now is if you could give them some money so they don't have to join the White Fang out of desperation again?" Deshret asked causing Militia to say "I'll wire some money to Ainsley's bank account once they get settled." Breathing a sigh of relief, Deshret thanked the duo and bid them farewell with the twins returning the goodbye as the desert fighter removed her scroll from the console leaving her in total darkness once more. Retracing her steps, Deshret opened the door and found Ainsley, who tied her magenta hair into a pony tail, doing sit ups despite her weakened state.

"Well, I see where Wilma gets her stubbornness from," Deshret playfully quipped making he warrior grunt as she wiped the sweat off of her brow with her forearm.

"Ugh, don't remind me. She was a fucking nightmare to deal with when she was a kid," Ainsley replied causing the desert fighter to chuckle softly as she thought of the footage from the interrogation room and certainly could see a younger Wilma, who had no mastery of her rage, being a monster.

"I bet, but anyway it's done. You and your family are going to Menagerie once its safe to do so after we rescue Wilma where one of my friends will wire some money to your bank account. There is a minor White Fang presence there so try to avoid them even if they don't consider you worth the trouble," Deshret suggested causing the reluctant soldier to stare at the desert fighter with a wide, blank stare before embracing her once again.

"I know you're a warlord, but...you've been so kind to my family and I," Ainsley said in a voice barely above a whisper as tears fell down her face which fogged up her glasses causing the desert fighter to return the hug.

"A leader serves their people," Deshret responded as she gently patted the reluctant soldier's shoulder as the reluctant soldier lifted up her glasses and wiped her teary eyes with her hand.

"Since you're up and about, are you well enough to accompany me in watching over the prisoner?" Deshret inquired causing Ainsley to nod and grab her rifle before following the desert fighter out of their barracks which brought a small smile to Deshret's lips. She was certainly going to miss the Beekman family as they brought a sense of normalcy, compassion, and warmth that was largely absent in the White Fang. Even so, she would rather not drag them into this endeavor of hers as the scramble for the maidens and the relics was certainly a bloody, violent undertaking, one she wasn't sure the Beekman family could handle.

* * *

Groaning, Lisa groggily opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed, rather felt, was that her body was heavily wrapped in gauze with most of her head and one of her eyes being covered as well. Next, she saw an elderly man with dog ears standing over her and cleaning the amputation point causing the reporter to calm down as she realized, to her relief, that she wasn't being tortured. Sucking in a breathe, Lisa sat up with herculean effort and immediately regretted doing it as her body flared up in pain and was seemingly screaming at her to lie back down. Immediately, Blake was at her side and gently pushed her back down with the doctor helping.

"Stop, you need to rest!" Blake all but shouted at her ally who jolted a bit at the huntress' forceful tone, but otherwise didn't protest as she let the doctor do his work where he proceeded to place a proper bandage over the amputation point.

"I know...Blake, I'm sorry I was...so useless back there," Lisa explained though it didn't make the awful taste in her mouth go away as Blake saved her twice, but she herself had yet to return the favor.

"You're not a huntress so it can't be helped," Blake replied softly making reporter indignantly huff as she put a hand on her bruised gut while staring at the huntress out of the corner of her eye.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Lisa retorted as while she could hold her own against the standard White Fang soldiers and local mobsters from Junior's family, the Grimm were a different story.

"How are you able to fight Grimm with just your bare hands?" Lisa curiously inquired as while she would rather not fight a Grimm hand to hand, she could do it as a last resort so long as it was a Beowolf, Creep, or some other Grimm that didn't too outclass humans in height and weight too severely.

"That's something you should be asking Yang, but I guess the answer is once you fight other huntsmen, a Grimm should be manageable in theory," Blake responded as she thought about the wechuge and wondered why it bothered to help them in the first place when it could have easily indulged in the slaughter.

"If it was hostile, could we have handled it?" Lisa asked causing the huntress to remain silent as like beowolves, wechuges were mean to be killed in droves in order for their more dangerous brethren to get set up. For a Grimm whose line was born to die, those who reached Elder Grimm status were formidable indeed. Before the huntress could respond, however, Lacey snorted making Blake glare at the fallen hero.

"No, even if you had a gun and Blake had her full set of weapons. That thing has been hunting Adam, Adolf, Lacey, and I for quite some time now and every time we've engaged it, it's given us a run for our money," the knight errant explained causing Blake to ball her hands into fists while Lisa was both impressed and bit horrified that a Grimm, even a very old one, was able to match the very warriors trained to kill them.

"You don't know that, I might have been able to stop it!" Blake retorted causing Lacey to approach the cell bars and stared at the huntress dead in the eye.

"Get that pride in check before it gets you killed. You want to stop us, right?" the fallen hero inquired causing the huntress to narrow her eyes and walked right up to Lacey causing the doctor who was treating the huntress to give Blake an incredulous look.

"I will stop you, even if I have to do it on my own!" Blake growled causing Ebony to click her beetle mandibles before locking eyes with Lacey and motioning for her to step back. Tilting her head, the fallen hero complied as Ebony opened the cell door and tossed the keys to Lacey who caught them without even looking.

"Since you seem to be fired up, I'm going to teach you a lesson," Ebony told the huntress who warily raised a brow as the soulless soldiers disarmed herself of her arm cannon and handed it to Gates as Lacey locked the door.

"And what would that be?" Blake asked as the soulless soldier rolled her shoulders and neck, cracked her knuckles, and put her fists up. Huffing, the huntress spared a glance at Lisa who confusedly shrugged before looking back at Ebony and bringing her hands up as well.

"If you beat me, we'll let you and Lisa go," Ebony offered causing Blake and Lisa to widen their eyes as the offer sounded too good to be true to the latter while the former slowly inched her way towards the soulless soldier.

"You're a lot of terrible things, but I know you're not a liar," Blake replied in a voice barely above a whisper before throwing a punch at Ebony when she closed the distance between them which the soulless soldier blocked with her forearm. Retaliating with a punch of her own, Blake leaned her head to the side to dodge it and then saw Ebony throwing a knee at her midsection. Under normal circumstances, Blake would have been able to block or dodge it, but in the state she was in now, she was a step too slow and ate the firm, but restrained strike to her gut. Wincing, the huntress had to strain to not topple over as she gritted her teeth and charged at Ebony. Feinting as if she was going to go for a kick, the huntress leaped in the air and threw a punch at Ebony's face who stepped to the side, trapped Blake's arm underneath her armpit, and gave the huntress a stiff, but withheld punch to the ear. While Blake was reeling, Ebony kicked the huntress in the shin making Blake gasp as she toppled over onto her face causing her to groan.

"What's wrong? I mean, Blake is a huntress so shouldn't she be doing better?" Ashanti asked as she watched Blake take a deep breathe in and let it back out before slowly climbing to her feet.

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but these are not normal circumstances," Lacey calmly responded as Ebony didn't fall for Blake's feinted punch and stopped the roundhouse kick to her ribs dead in its tracks. Before the huntress could recover, Ebony struck Blake's balancing foot with a side kick making the huntress yowl and fall over with a loud thud where she tightly gripped her leg.

"Okay, Blake, what did we learn?" Ebony asked while extending her hand to the huntress who hissed at her and viciously slapped her hand away.

"That you love hurting people who can't properly defend themselves?" Blake spat with as much venom she could muster causing Ebony to sigh softly and kneel down next to the huntress who glared at her with a gaze that could kill many times over.

"Only some people; Blake, even when you were working with us, you had a tendency to push yourself beyond what you could handle and from the look of things, you still haven't learned that lesson," Ebony remarked making Blake snarl as she tackled the soulless solider to the ground causing Ainsley, who had just arrived, to widen her eyes while Deshret tilted her head.

"So what!?" Blake snarled as she slugged Ebony across the face and then brought her elbow down onto the soulless soldier's nose like a sledgehammer making Ebony wince before grabbing Blake's head, wrapping her legs around her waist, and tossing the huntress aside. Grimacing, Blake struggled to regain her bearings as Ebony sat on her chest and clasped her wrist where she slowly contorted it making the huntress hiss.

"It means that while you certainly have the will to keep on fighting, your body simply can't keep up, especially in the state that it's in now," Ebony coolly replied where she twisted Blake's wrist even more making the huntress scream and grip her arm where she desperately tried to resist the pressure being applied on it.

"But that's not the only problem you've retained; why else would you accept a fight you knew you couldn't win? You want to protect Lisa because you believe she's incapable of protecting herself, huh?" Ebony surmised while breaking off the submission and backing off causing Blake to take the reprieve before getting back on her feet while glaring daggers at the soulless soldier. Roaring, Blake feinted a punch to Ebony's gut which finally took her foe off guard before landing the actual attack, a fierce overhead cross to the soulless soldier's skull making Ebony see stars. Seeing her chance, Blake immediately followed it up with a roundhouse kick to Ebony's ribs making the arm cannon soldier's body curl to the side as the huntress tried to end it with a front kick to know Ebony on her ass. Unfortunately for Blake, Ebony managed to simultaneously dip to the side and catch Blake's thigh where she uppercutted the huntress in the groin as a distraction before kicking Blake's Achilles tendon. Howling as she hit the floor, Blake saw nothing but blurry shapes and colors as Ebony wrapped her arms and legs around the huntress' leg in a tight submission holding before contorting and wrenching the limb. Wailing and arching her back, Blake futilely tried to break the hold to no avail and yelped as Ebony twisted it even more.

"You're going to have to be more willing to accept help from others which means that should you escape, you need to get a rifle in Lisa's hands as soon as possible," Ebony informed her former ally before breaking off the hold and grabbed Blake's arm to help her up though like last time, the huntress shoved her away.

"Learn your limits, accept them, and work to overcome then. You still won't be able to beat us, but you will stand a better chance," the soulless soldier advised as Lacey unlocked the cell door and handed her partner her arm cannon causing the soulless soldier to give a nod of acknowledgement as Blake slowly got onto one knee.

"You want to be arrested?" Lisa incredulously as she limped towards the huntress and offered her hand to Blake who looked at it for a moment before grasping the appendage.

"I want to be _**killed**_," Ebony corrected which made the reporter grunt as she helped Blake to her feet and let the huntress lean on her for support.

"Let's hope that happens soon then," Blake venomously remarked causing Ebony to grunt as she walked out of the cell and after injecting the huntress with an aura booster, so did the doctor under the watchful eye of the guards so the prisoners wouldn't try anything.

"Indeed," Ebony replied causing Blake to snort as she gave Lisa a curt nod of acknowledgement before wrenching herself from the reporter's grasp and laying down on her bed. Sighing, Lisa sat down on the edge of Blake's bed with a grimace and gently placed a hand on her arm making the huntress grunt, but otherwise didn't remove the extremity.

"Blake, if what Ebony said is true, then I need you to realize that I'm the only back up you have," Lisa pointed out which, to her surprise, made Blake sit up and lock her yellow, predatory eyes with Lisa's calm amber ones.

"Once we get out of here-"

"_If _you get out of here," Lacey interrupted while not looking up from the sheet of paper she was writing poetry on causing the huntress to glare at the fallen hero before looking back into Lisa's eyes.

"Once we get out of here, you stay back from any fights we get into and let me handle it," Blake told Lisa causing the reporter to nod as she thought she got the meaning of what the huntress said.

"Right, I'll provide cover fire and occupy the enemies that escape your notice-"

"No, I mean you hide somewhere and then I'll tell you when it's safe to come out," Blake gently interrupted Lisa causing the reporter to be taken aback, stare at the huntress as if she grew a second head, and then grunted.

"I'm not a defenseless child, Blake," Lisa huffed causing the huntress to release a breathe and gently clasped Lisa's shoulder.

"I know, but you're not on my level, let alone Lacey's level yet. It's why you got hurt the way you did," Blake explained, hoping this would make Lisa see "reason," but this only made the reporter ground her teeth and unconsciously grasp her missing arm.

"You try fighting when a bone is sticking out of your arm, your body is running a high fever, and you haven't fully recovered from your previous injuries," Lisa snarled causing the huntress to open her mouth in order to say something, but quickly closed it when nothing came to mind.

"Look, you're right to be worried since I can't fight as well up close like you or any other huntress. However, you know I'm still a good shot and making me sit on the sidelines could have grave consequences for both of us!" Lisa seethed with her teeth gritted making Blake to stare at the reporter with narrowed eyes before releasing a breathe.

"Don't say I didn't warn you if you wind up getting hurt like this again," Blake huffed before laying back down on her bed and turning her back to Lisa who scowled.

"Well, maybe if you trained me-"

"Even if I did, you still wouldn't be a match for Adam, Ebony, Lacey, Deshret, or any of Adam's commandos!" Blake sharply interrupted while leaping from her bed and standing toe to toe with Lisa who resisted the great, overwhelming urge to groan.

"I'm not trying to be a match for them, Blake! I just want to improve to the point where you won't have to worry about me as much!" Lisa rebuked while wincing slightly as the stress from this situation sent a sharp, brief wave of pain throughout her body and made her feel slightly light-headed.

"I am not going to let you lose another limb so you're going to stay out of my way once we get out of here and keep your head down, understand!?" Blake retorted in a tone that made it clear her decision on the matter was final making the reporter narrow her eyes.

"No, I don't," Lisa gruffly replied causing the huntress to throw her arms up into the air, groan loudly, lay back down in her bed. Releasing a breathe, Lisa forced down the residual pain that cropped up and placed a hand on Blake's arm.

"Blake, I wasn't trying to make you mad-"

"You failed, now please leave me alone," Blake bluntly interrupted while slapping Lisa's hand off of her causing the reporter to pinch the bridge of her nose, tilt her head back, and sigh softly before acquiescing to her ally's request. Just as Lisa laid down on her bed, however, she saw Adam along with some of his commandos approaching their cell with Sienna Khan being projected from his scroll via hologram.

"You've had to have known that there would be consequences, you've had-"

"Be silent, Adam. Now, I've been informed that you three went against orders?" Sienna patiently inquired causing Deshret to step forward, plant her fist against her heart, drag it across her chest in a formal salute, and then kneel.

"I put them up to it, High Leader. I received intel that said the police and the huntsmen knew we were coming so I proposed to Ebony and Lacey that they should distract our enemies. Meanwhile, my squad and I would retrieve as much dust as we could; the strategy paid off at the cost of two of my warriors and Roman Torchwick getting captured," Deshret explained causing Sienna to raise a brow, cross one leg over the other, and lean forward while casting a brief, suspicious glance at the Crimson Scourge.

"Roman Torchwick? Is he not the crime lord who has a stranglehold on Vale's underworld? Why would you lower yourselves to working with someone like that, human or otherwise?" Sienna asked with a slight growl causing Ebony to step up to the metaphorical plate making the High Leader tilt her head.

"It wasn't a willing choice on our part, High Leader. A woman wearing a red dress infused with dust attacked our camp a while back and killed all of our troops with the aid of Marcus Black's son and a green haired girl with a hallucination semblance. We were given the choice to join her or die and Adam took the former without putting up a fight," the soulless soldier added causing Sienna to turn her head and glower at Adam who was now starting to regret calling the High Leader in the first place.

"You caved into a human's demands when you had Adolf, Ebony, and Lacey with you!?" Sienna incredulously shouted at the Crimson Scourge who grit his teeth and tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade.

"Why didn't you inform me of this, Adam? I could have sent reinforcements to help you unless...you want to be this unequal partnership, don't you?" Sienna stated and though a small part of her wished that it wasn't true, she knew it was foolish, wishful thinking and Adam's smirk all but confirmed it.

"Yes, I do. At first, I was just doing her bidding so she wouldn't kill me, but now? I see the perks of fulfilling her agenda; namely, she'll give the White Fang what we want, overthrowing the humans and subjecting them to the same oppression they've inflicted on us for years! We'll be the dominant race and the humans will serve us!" Adam vehemently retorted with some of his commandos cheering in agreement causing Sienna to slowly shake her head while Lacey glared daggers at the Crimson Scourge.

"Overthrow the humans? You've gone...no...you've always been mad, I was just too blinded by my pride to see it," Sienna got out while running a frustrated hand over her face and then surveyed the group where she and Lisa locked eyes making the High Leader be taken aback.

"Is...is that Lisa Lavender? And...Blake Belladonna? Why is Lisa missing an arm...you threw them to the Grimm!? Why can't you realize that only validates our enemy's view of us!?" Sienna roared, no longer able to maintain the cool, collected facade of an unflappable leader, making Ebony and Lacey jolt as they never saw Sienna like this before.

"Why can't you realize that it doesn't matter how our enemies view us? As long as our goals get accomplished, that's all that matters," Adam retorted causing the High Leader to ground her teeth as looking back, she was starting to regret giving the Crimson Scourge such high praise and freedom.

"Ebony, I'm entrusting Blake and Lisa's imprisonment to you. If Adam or his partners try anything, contact me immediately," Sienna stated, but before the soulless soldier could give any form of acknowledgment, Adam abruptly ended the call and squeezed the scroll with a tight, trembling hand.

"I knew that soft-hearted weakling wouldn't do anything about your insubordination," Adam growled with as much venom as he could muster making Ebony, Lacey, and Deshret snort, but otherwise didn't rise to the provocation.

"Considering we're following her orders and you aren't, High Leader Khan taking our side was a given," Lacey coolly pointed out making the Crimson Scourge scoff and was sorely tempted to damn the consequences and take out his adversaries, but begrudgingly backed down when he realized who he was up against.

"I'm not going to stand for this, and neither is Cinder so you guys watch your backs," Adam warned them before walking away with his entourage where Ebony was sorely tempted to shoot him in the back, but stayed her hand. After all, she, her fireteam, Deshret, and her squad could openly try to kill him after he massively screwed up, turning the majority of their forces against him, his followers, and Cinder.

* * *

Sighing heavily, Ozpin reviewed the footage of Deshret's skirmish with Team RWBY again and again, watching for every little detail the desert fighter made. In particular, he made sure to take note of the heavenly flames healing the desert fighter which made him clasp his hands together. The headmaster of Beacon didn't want to admit it, but there was no denying it; Deshret was using magic, albeit on a tactile scale. A million questions ran through his head; how did she wield a long forgotten skill that the second iteration of humanity was unable to use? Where did she acquire such power? Did Salem teach her? If so, what did she have to gain from being in league with the Mistress of Grimm? Of most concern, was she planning on taking over Signal Academy like she did with Tenebris Academy? Taking a deep breathe in and letting it back out, Ozpin turned off the footage, leaned back in his chair, and tightened his grip on his cane.

There had to be someway he could gain at least an inkling on what she was planning on doing...which is when a light bulb went off in his head. Pulling up footage of the police station from the bug he planted in the building, he saw the remnants of Team RWBY sitting down next to the bed of Yang with Penny and Sun, Chief Asher nodding in approval when a group of White Fang soldiers told him something aside from where the main base was, and Jin and Wilma sitting in their cells with absolutely bored expressions. Switching the camera feed, Ozpin honed in on Roman Torchwick who was sitting in his cell without a care in the world and even found the time to harass the occasional guard that passed by his cell. While he heavily disapproved of Asher's actions, he would at least admit that the lawman did good by bringing the mob boss in.

"Something wrong?" Glynda suddenly called out to the headmaster who didn't flinch or waver at the sudden intrusion as he brought up the White Fang goon's holographic profiles along with showing the camera feed of Torchwick's cell.

"Quite the opposite; with Torchwick in custody along with some of Deshret's subordinate's, we have the keys to help deal with our primary and secondary threat," Ozpin replied while gesturing at Jin and Wilma with a tilt of his cane. Widening her eyes briefly upon recognizing Jin, Glynda pulled out her scroll and ordered one of the aides to get Ozpin's car ready.

"Maybe so, but Jin has proven to be hard to crack while Torchwick will only divulge what he knows if certain monetary requirements are met," the headmistress of Beacon pointed out as she and Ozpin descended to the lower levels using the elevator which the headmaster didn't deny.

"That's why we will interrogate Mrs. Beekman before Mrs. Hu," Ozpin countered causing the battle master to bring up Wilma's profile on her scroll along with the footage of her interrogation.

"The reports say she's only been with Deshret for little over a year which is certainly not long enough to make her privy to whatever she's planning. Do you really think someone like her knows something?" Glynda inquired as they exited the elevator and walked across the campus where they both cordially greeted any students they came across.

"We have to take that chance, Glynda," Ozpin said as they approached his car and entered it where the driver was instructed to go to the police station.

"I know, but I hope this isn't a waste of time," Glynda responded to which the headmaster nodded and said "So do I." before leaning back in the seat with the rest of their car ride being in silence. When they got to the police station, Ozpin told the driver to wait for them around the back before entering the building with Beacon's battle master at his side. Needless to say, neither he or the headmistress received a warm reception as the officer manning the front desk derisively snorted.

"Here to rub salt in the wound?" the lawman spat as venomously as possible causing the headmaster to shake his head and hold up a hand in a placating gesture.

"Not at all, I'm here to interrogate a few of your prisoners that you recently acquired," Ozpin replied causing the lawman to give the headmaster a gaze that could kill many times over.

"Don't blame me if the Chief rips your head off," the lawman remarked causing Ozpin to nod as he and Glynda entered the station where they received nothing but spiteful glowers from the various officers. When they ran into Asher down the hall, the former Chief of Police looked ready to follow through on his prior threats, but simply narrowed his eyes at the huntsmen instead.

"What, are you going to get the Council to take my apartment from me too?" the lawman seethed causing Ozpin to shake his head as Glynda projected the holographic profiles of Jin, Wilma, and Roman from her scroll.

"No, Chief, I've come to interrogate these prisoners," Ozpin explained causing the officer to look at the huntsmen blankly before curtly motioning for the headmaster and headmistress to follow him.

"Some huntsmen from your school already tried that and now one of them is in the infirmary, Yang I think. She said things she shouldn't have to one of the prisoners and paid the price," Asher elaborated as they came to a stop in front of the one way mirror where they saw another officer unsuccessfully trying to make the mob boss talk.

"We're not having any luck with this bastard either and I'm afraid that Neo is going to try and bust him out any time now," Asher admitted causing the headmaster of Beacon to nod slowly as the gears in his head started turning.

"I will interrogate Torchwick; Glynda, you question Mrs. Beekman and Mrs. Hu," Ozpin ordered causing the member of his inner circle to nod while Asher begrudgingly ordered some of his officers to fetch the White Fang soldiers from their cells. While he waited for the officer in the interrogation room to finish, the headmaster went over what he already knew about Cinder and her grand plan in his head. Admittedly, it wasn't much, but couldn't mull over it any longer when the obviously frustrated police officer exited the room, released a long groan, and shook his head. Saying nothing, the headmaster of Beacon walked into the interrogation room with his head held high causing Torchwick to tilt his head with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn't the big cheese himself. I'd tip my hat to you if those pigs hadn't took it-"

"Let's cut to the chase. I want to know what your boss is planning and you want to fill your pockets," Ozpin sharply interrupted the mob boss while never losing his dignified tone causing Torchwick to smirk.

"So, you're going to do what these pigs won't, huh? I gotta say, that's not very huntsmen like, caving into the demands of filthy degenerate and what not," Torchwick remarked, but to his surprise Ozpin gave him a smirk of his own and projected the camera feed of the mob boss's hidden caches from his scroll. He was glad that Glynda took the video from Lisa as one, the contents allowed them to track down some of Roman's hideouts and two, he got to see the shocked expression on the mob boss's face.

"You're absolutely right, it would be quite demeaning if I lowered myself to such levels. That's why I'm going to hit you where it hurts," Ozpin replied as he pressed a button on his scroll and said "Do it." which immediately caused two of Roman's personal caches to explode rendering the lien and any other goods stored there useless. Seeing all of his hard, stolen cash literally go up in flames, Torchwick could only stare at the camera feed with his eyes as wide as a goldfish before glaring daggers at the huntsmen.

"I swear, you'd better kill me because if you don't, I'm going to devote every second of my life to make yours-"

"Do it," Ozpin calmly cut off the mob boss causing two more of Torchwick's stockpiles to explode causing the veins on Roman's forehead to bulge as he screamed at the top of his lungs and wildly banged his fists against the steel table.

"If you want me to stop, tell me where the White Fang is and what your boss is planning," Ozpin demanded causing the mob boss to ground his teeth as he would like nothing more than to teach this huntsmen what happens when you mess with Roman Torchwick. However, the thought of more of his retirement money getting blown to hell brought a sense of calm to him so he composed himself as best he could.

"Those filthy animals are hiding out underneath Mountain Glenn, but I can't tell you what my boss is planning. I like to have my head on my shoulders, you know?" Roman commented causing the headmaster to say "Do it." once more causing more of Roman's caches to blow up bringing the mob boss to near tears. Getting up, Ozpin exited the room where Asher looked at him in a mix of anger for what he did to him, but admiration for what the huntsmen accomplished.

"Son of a bitch, you actually did it. I mean, it's not everything, but it's something we can grab onto," Asher told the headmaster of Beacon just as two officers walked up to them with a restrained Wilma and Jin.

"Please get Mrs. Beekman set up, I'll be in there shortly," Glynda requested causing the officers to comply as the headmistress of Beacon adjusted her glasses and glanced at Ozpin.

"Don't be too harsh on her, Glynda," Ozpin requested making the battle master scoff as she entered the room and sat across from the White Fang goon who narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not talking," Wilma huffed to which the headmistress of Beacon merely snorted and projected the profiles of the huntsmen coming from Atlas for the Vytal Festival along with the White Fang goon's family from her scroll.

"Let's consider your background. You're a foot soldier in the White Fang, you're working for Adam Taurus who's despised even among his peers in the White Fang, you're serving underneath Deshret who's a known warlord, and you're working with Jin who's a ruthless, psychopathic vigilante. You will be tried as an adult and sent to a maximum security prison due to your association with these people," Glynda bluntly told the White Fang goon who widened her eyes and seemed to want to say something, but couldn't quite form what she was thinking into words.

"B-but I-I'm only s-sixteen!" Wilma stuttered in a voice barely above a whisper to which the headmistress of Beacon said nothing and projected the profiles of Winter Schnee and the current iteration of the Ace Ops.

"You committed serious crimes and your punishment will reflect that. Now, you're familiar with these people, correct?" Glynda asked while gesturing at the profiles causing Wilma to give a barely noticeable nod making the headmistress of Beacon hope that whatever punishment Wilma did face wasn't too harsh.

"Then you should be well acquainted with how those in the White Fang fare in Atlesian military custody. Given your connection to the prior mentioned people, your interrogation will be particularly...severe if you don't cooperate with them," Glynda calmly, but mercilessly went on which caused Wilma's lips to quiver which made the headmistress give a mental sigh.

"Let's say you and Jin escape and rendezvous with Deshret; now you're wanted criminals and not only will the police be searching for you, but every bounty hunter in Vale as well. Should you escape notice, General Ironwood will send someone after you like say...Specialist Schnee. You know that she has a soldier's mindset, not a huntsmen's, so she will take your life along with your family's life if you put up resistance," the battle master ruthlessly continued making tears well at the corner of Wilma's eyes as she imagined seeing her mom, sister, and Vickers being cut down by Winter's blades.

"While Deshret might be able to beat Winter, I doubt she can do so when Specialist Schnee is aided by any of the huntsmen from Atlas coming for the Vytal Festival," the headmistress of Beacon surmised causing Wilma to widen her eyes before dipping her head to avoid eye contact as she mulled over the huntress' words. What Glynda said couldn't be true! Deshret would find a way to win no matter what!

"If you don't want such a fate befalling those you care about, tell me what you know about Deshret. If you do, Professor Ozpin and I will put in a good word for you, your family, and Vickers when you're in court. If you're very cooperative, we also might be able to convince General Ironwood to spare Deshret," the headmistress of Beacon offered causing the White Fang goon to say nothing and look down at her hands. If if it were Adam, any of his commandos, or Adolf saying such things, Wilma would tell them that she knew they were lying through their teeth. However, Glynda was a huntress...who threatened to have her and those she cared about killed by Atlesian specialists if she didn't cave into their demands or tortured by handing them over to General Ironwood.

"You threaten me and those I care about-"

"I'm merely telling you how things are going to go down if you don't cooperate as we know where the White Fang's base is," Glynda calmly, but firmly interrupted making the White Fang goon jolt and feel a chill go down her spine. The huntsmen knew they were in Mountain Glenn?

"I want to go back to my cell, please," Wilma requested causing Glynda to narrow her eyes and adjust her glasses. It was working, Wilma was slowly being broken; now the headmistress had to break what was left of her spirit.

"You think that Ironwood or anyone under his command are going to care what you want?" Glynda retorted while slapping her riding crop down onto the table causing Wilma to tightly clench her fists to the point her knuckles turned white all while tears fell down her face.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore; please take me back to my cell-"

"No, I have something else in mind," the headmistress of Beacon interrupted as she used her semblance to break the handcuffs binding the White Fang goon to the table causing Asher to widen their eyes while Ozpin was unreadable.

"W-what are you-"

"Teaching you a lesson; your father deserved to die when he decided to help the soldiers clear out the Grimm nest beyond Mantle's walls," Glynda coldly told the White Fang goon which left a significantly sour taste in her mouth, but got the desired reaction as Wilma's eyes bulged out of her sockets before she grounded her teeth.

"_**DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HIM!" **_Wilma roared as she ripped the table off of the floor and swung it at Glynda's head who simultaneously spun underneath the blow and held her foot out. Gasping, Wilma tripped over the huntress' foot, sending her sprawling to the ground, and brutally face planted against the wall while the table skidded across the ground with an ear piercing screech.

"Whatever game she's playing better pay off, Ozpin," Asher warned the headmaster of Beacon who nodded as a half conscious Wilma twitched before groggily getting onto all fours. Before she could clear the cobwebs from her head, the White Fang goon gasped and then wheezed as the steel table coiled around her like an anaconda constricting its prey which trapped her arms at her sides.

"If you tried this against the Ace Ops, you'd be in far worse shape right now," Glynda told the White Fang goon while telekinetically lifting her up in the air and tightening the pressure around her body making Wilma scream and then glare daggers at the huntress.

"I don't care, you don't talk about-hrghk!" Wilma wheezed as the table constricted her even more making her hunch forward with her teeth gritted as streams of saliva began pouring down the sides of her mouth.

"The Atlesian Specialists will say things like this to provoke a reaction out of you during interrogations and judging from your reactions, you don't want that," Glynda informed the prisoner, but only got a glower in response as Wilma continued her effort to free herself only to let out a desperate gasp for air as the piece of furniture put even more pressure around her making her face turn a light shade of blue. When she still struggled, the battle master slowly put more pressure around Wilma making the White Fang goon hack and wheeze as she wildly flailed about like a fish out of water and erratically kicked her legs. Slowly, but surely however, the fight left Wilma's eyes as her limbs became as limp as noodles while her head slumped forward with her breathing being barely audible causing the huntress to relent.

"I gave you a watered down version of what to expect if we turn you over to General Ironwood. Now please, for the sake of yourself and those you care about, tell us what you know about Deshret," the headmistress of Beacon ordered while gently setting Wilma down with her semblance, but kept the table wrapped around her just in case as the White Fang goon sucked in long, slow breathes.

"All I know is that she has this secret room in our barracks that she goes into sometimes. Whenever I ask why, she just says it's for business," Wilma got out in a voice barely above a whisper while still trying to catch her breathe causing Glynda to purse her lips; a secret room? Perhaps whatever she was using to communicate with her allies will hold the information they needed.

"Where are your barracks?" the huntress inquired while releasing Wilma from her table binding making the White Fang goon slump forward onto fall fours while sucking in slow, long breathes.

"Near the airfields, there's an emblem of a cobra on top of it," Wilma murmured causing the huntress to nod and glance at the one way mirror and gesture at the fallen White Fang goon causing police officers to enter the room.

"Thank you, Mrs. Beekman, and I'm sorry that your father is either missing or worse," Glynda said in a genuinely sympathetic tone causing the White Fang goon to glower at her when the officers picked her up off of the floor. Understanding the White Fang goon's reaction, the huntress left the room and approached her allies where she expectantly looked at Ozpin.

"Alright, we now know where the White Fang is holed up at and we have a lead that can potentially tell us more about Deshret and her agenda. I say we launch a joint strike with the huntsmen from your school, SWAT teams from my department, the huntsmen and soldiers Ironwood is bringing for the Vytal Festival, and the Valean Militia," Asher recommended causing the huntress to grunt while Ozpin merely inclined his brow making the lawman narrow his eyes.

"If we launch an attack that size, then the people-"

"Are going to panic, I know! But we have an opportunity to prevent the White Fang from becoming more of a problem than they already are!" Asher interrupted, but the headmaster of Beacon wasn't convinced.

"Chief, when you go to war, who do you send first? The flag bearers, or the scouts?" Ozpin inquired causing the lawman to bristle and fold his arms.

"We can get our combined forces in position and send scouting teams forward to probe the White Fang's defenses before moving in. Overall, this is a golden opportunity and we need to act fast before it's wasted!" Asher retorted, but once again the headmaster didn't buy into it and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Chief, but no. We need to fully ascertain what the White Fang's capabilities are before we even consider sending some kind of force to subdue them," the headmaster of Beacon countered causing Asher to resist the urge to flip the table near him and opted to pinch the bridge of his nose instead.

"So what, we're just going to sit on our hands and let the White Fang run amok in Vale!?" the career officer nearly shouted, but just managed to raise his voice instead causing Ozpin to shake his head.

"No, Chief, we're going to determine what the White Fang is capable of and then use the necessary force to neutralize them in order to not attract the Grimm," the huntsman responded making the career officer want to tear his hair out as he removed his glasses and ran a hand over his face.

"If that's the road you're going to take, fine. I obviously can't stop you, but a word of advice. Don't sit on the fence too long or else it's going to be swept right from underneath you," Asher warned the huntsman before walking away causing Ozpin to sigh softly as on one hand, he truly wished he didn't have to ostracize the lawman like this. On the other, however, he would continue to treat Asher as a pariah until the lawman recognized that there was more at stake than the safety of the people of Vale, something that would never come to pass.

* * *

Releasing a breathe that became cold, frozen mist in Atlesian air, a lioness Grimm with a heavenly white coat, razor sharp claws perfect for mauling, and divine blue eyes sprinted through the snow with another member of its kind. Thanks to the Ironwood's men of iron, their inventions like the automatons and their facsimile kin wearing knight armor, and last, but not least, the lightwielders, they went from a mighty pride of 20 to a measly two. Oh, how it longed for the days when the beast walkers and the god progeny had only sticks and stones to rely on! They were much easier to kill when they didn't have these new inventions things killing them left and right! Sure, it wasn't alive back then, but it must have been a golden age! Shaking these thoughts aside, the lioness Grimm and its comrade took cover in a building they were using as temporary den and ascended to the second to last floor. Looking through the shattered window with their binocular vision, they saw the snowborn known as Winter and the sorceress known as Fria conversing as per usual which made it want to attack now, but knew such actions were folly. As it waited, it wondered what Salem would do if...no...when they brought their mistress' long sought after prize to her. Would the mistress of Grimm reward them?

Ooh, maybe she would make them bigger or give them wings? Or both! Maybe she would gift them the ability to shoot fire or lightning out of their mouths like some of their other brethren? It was practically bouncing on its toes at this point, but stayed focused. Not once did it move as it waited...and waited...and waited. Winter had long since left Fria's room, but the lioness didn't give the signal to attack and continued to observe its quarry. Only when the Winter Maiden fell into a deep slumber did the lioness finally get up causing its cohort to follow suit as they checked to make sure the coast was clear before jumping out the window and down into the snow. Cautiously creeping forward with its second in tow through the tundra, they sprawled to the ground face down in the snow when a dropship passed overhead. Keeping as still as possible, the Grimm sighed in relief when the aircraft soon moved on causing the demons to continue on their way while keeping an eye out for enemy patrols.

Reaching the edge of the building Fria was in without incident, the Grimm made sure no one was around before quickly scaling the building by digging their claws into the concrete and trying to keep as quiet as possible. Soon, they reached their destination causing the leader to carefully cut a circle in the glass with the pointed appendage of bone on the end of its whip like tail and removed the shape from the window. Dropping the glass onto the snow below, the leader and its second entered the room, ready to claim one of the things they came for...only for the lights to suddenly come to life and the alarm to blare unceasingly. Jolting, the leader wondered how they could have been discovered so quickly...until it saw those infernal glass eyes on the corners of the wall, transmitting what it saw back to its masters. The lightwielders knew they were here, but maybe they could still complete the mission! With that hope in mind, it lunged at the Winter Maiden who was wide awake at this point while its second strained to keep the door closed to the point the veins on its arms and forehead looked like they were about to burst. Just as the leader was mere inches from Fria, it was sent violently crashing against the wall with a gale force wind of icy blue fire that crumpled and folded in the surface of the steel wall.

Grimacing, the leader, with the entire right side of its torso torn asunder, slowly climbed to its feet by using the wall as support where it looked at its comrade, then Fria, and then itself. Sighing, the Grimm howled at its comrade who widened its eyes, but nonetheless abandoned holding the door closed and leaped through the opening they created after a moment's hesitation. The second hit the ground running and didn't stop while the leader faced down Winter who burst into the room and deftly sliced off its only remaining arm at the elbow. Grimacing, the Grimm retaliated by kneeing the specialist in the chest making Winter grunt as she sidestepped the follow up bite to her skull that took off a few locks of her hair and stabbed at the demon's throat. Wincing as the Grimm's whip like tail smashed against her wrist sending the saber in her off hand clattering to the ground, Winter felt her strike connect and heard the Grimm yowl as her sword stuck all the way out the side of its throat. Crumpling onto its knees while gripping Winter's saber, the lioness Grimm futilely tried to wrench it out only to wail as Winter impaled from the bottom of its mouth all the way up through its skull. With its last vestige of consciousness, the Grimm cursed Winter with every fiber of its being before everything faded to black as it broke down into dust and scattered into the wind.

"This is Specialist Schnee, I've killed one of the Menhittes and I'm in pursuit of the last one! It seems to be heading towards the warehouses east of campus!" Winter shouted through her scroll as, after checking to make sure that Fria was okay, jumped through the window and used a glyph to soften her landing.

"_Then its just sealed its fate!" _Harriet shouted through the communication channel with a loud chuckle as she informed all the patrols in the area to converge on the building. As if it wasn't overkill enough, Harriet activated the prototype AK-200s which sprang up from the ground in capsules from around campus and rushed toward the target area as well.

"_I'm heading over there now, Specialist Schnee!" _Marrow shouted causing Harriet to roll her eyes as she ran past Winter, inadvertently kicking snow into her ally's face, making Winter wince.

"Then get here fast, kid!" Harriet retorted as she grinded to a halt in front of the warehouses with Winter joining her shortly where the lightning fast brawler activated whatever prototype AK-200s they had in storage. Immediately, the deafening sounds of gunfire, the inhuman screams of the Menhitte, and the loud, screeching sound of metal being torn asunder echoed throughout one of the buildings causing Harriet to rush in, leaving Winter in the dust. Rolling her eyes, Winter ran after Harriet as the Menhitte grimaced as its hide was pelted by unceasing gunfire that shattered the plating on its back.

Forcing down the pain, Grimm zig-zagged and rolled around the bullets while charging towards the stairs that lead to the roof where it ground its teeth as the onslaught of gunfire shattered its mask and ruptured its eye. Tenderly touching its face, it hissed before continuing on its way where it crushed the head of an AK-200 like it was a paper cup while bisecting another from the hip all the way up to the shoulder. Tossing the remains of its slain enemies at the other robots which knocked some of them down, the Menhitte got up the first step only to yowl as a volley of bullets completely broke through the plating on its leg and tore through its thigh. The Menhitte retaliated by ripping off a spike on its shoulder and flinging it at the automaton which pierced right through its head and caused it to collapse on its back where electricity wildly sparked around it. Gritting its teeth, it limped up the stairs only for its face to be smashed through the steps by Harriet and then impaled on its side by a nearby AK-200.

Wailing, the Grimm kicked the automaton in the face making its head fold in like sheet metal while Harriet ruthlessly rained down blow after blow on the lioness' face. So ruthless was the assault that the Menhitte's eye popped out of its socket and teeth flew from its mouth every punch with a spray of white blood causing the Grimm to wail and grab Harriet's face. Before the lioness could throw the specialist off, its fingers were snapped in half with a loud crack making it scream as Winter arrived and wondered how she could assist when the stairway was so narrow. Ululating as another punch cracked more of its mask, the Grimm wrapped its tail around Harriet's neck and flung her down the stairs making Harriet yelp upon hitting every step. Jumping over Harriet who wheezed when she landed on the floor, Winter rushed the Grimm who hobbled up the stairs as fast as its legs could carry it. However, the door was held shut by a black glyph making it turn around and block the stab to its chest with the plating on its forearm causing Winter's saber to glance off to the side. However, it was too slow to react to the follow up slash which cut off its entire arm making it screech and collapse on its back, barely coherent as is thanks to Harriet's beating.

When it kicked at Winter in desperation, it received a nasty cut to the limb which would have been sliced off had it not been for its natural armor making it yowl. Before Winter could capitalize on her advantage, she gasped as the Menhitte wrapped its tail around her ankle and twisted it making her wince as she was sent tumbling down the stairs. This, fortunately for the Menhitte, caused the black glyph to fade away causing it to burst through the door and collapse face first in the snow. Picking itself up, no easy task due to its broken fingers, the Menhitte jumped, weaved, zig-zagged, and rolled around the gunfire from the group of dropships that fired upon it and kicked the door to the stairwell down to stall the specialists. This action bought it precious seconds as, due to the cramped corridor, Harriet, Winter, and the myriad of AK-200s couldn't just rush it en masse and Harriet was forced to stop in her tracks to catch the large piece of metal. Nearly losing her balance due to the uneven surface, the specialist tossed the door overhead which collided with Winter causing the specialist to yelp and fall over. Catching herself herself with a white glyph, Winter got back up with a huff and got onto the roof and saw Harriet impatiently tapping her foot.

"About time, come on. The damn thing jumped off the platform and is in free fall," Harriet informed her ally while getting onto one of the dropships causing Winter to snort and summon a Sphinx which she mounted.

"Then let's go get it," Winter gruffly responded as her Sphinx took off and then dive bombed towards the rapidly disappearing Grimm with Harriet's dropship close behind...just as Marrow and the platoon of AK-200s got onto the roof.

"Hey, what about me!?" Marrow shouted while waving his arms to catch any of the dropship's attention, but either they didn't notice or Harriet ordered them to not break off from the chase making the specialist sigh softly.

"I guess I'll go file my report now," Marrow remarked as he walked past the robots and down the stairs as the Menhitte dry heaved when it crash landed atop a gigantic Atlesian airship. Inspecting its hand, it sighed in relief when it saw that its fingers had healed for the most part and crawled toward the cockpit only to widen its eye when it saw Harriet land right in front of it and nail it across the face with a vicious hook. Grimacing as more white blood and teeth flew from its maw, the Menhitte latched onto Harriet's waist with its remaining arm, bit down her skull, and lashed at her sides with its tail. Wincing, the specialist retaliated by pounding its midsection with fierce knees and punches making the Grimm wail as depressions and cavities formed on its torso from the brutal, unyielding strikes.

"Harriet, disengage! We can't hit it with you in the crossfire!" Winter yelled over the scroll which her ally tried to do only for the Menhitte to send them both tumbling over the edge to avoid being turned into chunky salsa.

"Stay calm, I'm coming to get you!" Winter bellowed as her Sphinx dove toward the free falling combatants where the Menhitte ate a hard punch to its side only to retaliate with a clawed kick to Harriet's face. Screeching, the specialist responded by grabbing the Menhitte's ankle and snapping it like a twig making the Grimm scream and then riposte by grabbing her ear and savagely snapping the bone. Wailing like a madwoman, Harriet grabbed the Menhitte's neck and slugged the Grimm on its single remaining eye causing the organ to depress and gush like a geyser.

Screaming as its vision was now nothing but blurry, bloody fragments, it briefly lost all higher function before managing to grab Harriet by her neck and viciously slam its tail against her wounded ear. Yelping, the specialist fell unconscious which the Menhitte took advantage of and wrapped an arm around her neck where, if it wasn't going to escape, it was certainly going to take this lightwielder down with it. However, this hope was dashed away as Winter with deft precision, sliced off its head as if its neck was made out of wet paper before the Grimm knew what was going on. Grabbing Harriet who was erratically tumbling through the air, Winter secured the specialist to her mount before getting on her scroll.

"All units, the Menhitte has been dealt with. Return to base," Winter ordered causing the pilots to voice their affirmative before turning around and heading back to Atlas Academy with Winter close behind. Ignoring the curious stares of the students who had left the academy to see what the commotion was about, Winter had her Sphinx land on the roof and called for a medic just as the lightning fast brawler came to.

"Tell me you got it," Harriet stated making Winter nod as she helped her ally off of the Sphinx and deposited her on the gurney the medics brought causing Marrow to concernedly glance at his wounded teammate before walking up to Winter.

"Come along, Marrow. We have to make an...unpleasant call to General Ironwood," Winter stated causing the specialist to nod as he followed Winter down the stairwell. Once inside the school, they made their way to the communication room where the students they walked past stood at attention and saluted them.

"I...I don't understand how these things keep getting in. I mean, everything is accounted for and triple checked before its allowed in Atlas," Marrow pointed out causing Winter to look down at the floor as if it would contain the question to this conundrum.

"I agree, but the fact of the matter is that we're vulnerable somewhere," Winter replied which Marrow grimly conceded to as the specialists entered the communication room and ordered the soldiers to leave. Contacting Ironwood despite not wanting to, the stoic, steely gaze of the general projected from the device causing the two specialists to stand at attention.

"At ease, I've been informed that you took care of the Menhitte pride that infiltrated school grounds. Normally, I would commend you for dealing with such a threat, but the fact that they got this far reveals gross incompetence and negligence on your part. I expected more from the best operatives I have," Ironwood calmly, but firmly admonished the specialists making Winter ground her teeth and tense her hands that were behind her back while Marrow pursed his lips.

"Sir, that's the thing. We don't know how they're getting in; everything from transports, supplies, and people are thoroughly checked before they're allowed in Atlas," Marrow stated causing the general to level his steely gaze at the specialist who wanted to sick into the ground which was a sentiment Winter shared.

"Well, there's the problem. Obviously, we have faulty inspection officers," Ironwood replied causing Winter to bite her lip before locking eyes with the general.

"All due respect, sir, that's not the case. The inspection officers are people you hand picked," Winter countered making Ironwood huff as he brought up footage of the inspection officers where everyone saw them thoroughly screening anything that wanted entrance into the city of dreams.

"It's clear my faith was misplaced which is why I'm going to relieve them of duty and hire new inspection officers. Hopefully they'll spot things they didn't," Ironwood responded making Marrow cringe for a split second while Winter was taken aback before she grit her teeth and balled her hands into fists.

"Sir, I've worked with these people for years and they've been nothing but loyal, reliable troops-"

"They're not as reliable as you think if Grimm keep getting in!" the general sharply interrupted Winter with a loud roar and it was as if time stood still as Ironwood and his protege stared at each other in dead silence. Nothing seemed to be able to cut the tension before Ironwood closed his eyes, released a breathe, and looked right into Winter's eyes.

"I don't want to remove them from their posts, but I will because it's for the good of all Remnant," Ironwood coolly told her as if he was a father giving advice to a young child to which his protege said nothing as the general ended communications. Winter, in spite of wanting to hack and slash every single device in the room, restrained herself and marched out of the room before Marrow could offer some words of encouragement making the youngest Ace Op sigh softly. While all this was happening, Salem reviewed the slow, but sure decimation of the Menhitte pride through the seer where her expression was unreadable. It was a shame; Winter would have made a great asset, but instead she decided to serve the most cowardly man on Remnant and by proxy, the most foolish. Shaking her head, the mistress of Grimm exited the throne room with the seer hovering behind her where she entered the training grounds and saw Arthur Watts "tutoring" more Menhittes.

"Good evening, ma'am. Is something wrong?" the former scientist inquired with formal dip of his head causing Salem to point at the seer which replayed how each of the Menhittes met their fate.

"I'm terribly sorry about their performance, ma'am. I assure you this next batch will be even better," Arthur assured the mistress of Grimm who held up a hand in a placating gesture to indicate that she wasn't mad and floated over to the crystal railing that glowed a dark, eerie purple.

"Ironwood doesn't realize it, but he reveals more and more gaps in his security with each successive defense of the relic," Salem informed her servant who smirked as they both watched Tyrian slit the throat of one unfortunate Menhitte before slinking back into the darkness and then plunging the tip of his stinger through the eye of another before disappearing like a phantom.

"Indeed, he's as predictable and single minded as ever," Arthur replied with a slight chuckle to which Salem was silent as she watched Tyrian slew a trio of Menhittes with a mad cackle before hiding in the dark. Smirking ever so slightly, Salem held up a hand just as Tyrian was about to slice a Grimm's face in half causing him to give a quizzical stare to his goddess before nodding and retreating into the darkness with a mad cackle. The remaining Menhittes, with a myriad of lacerations, stab wounds, and cut off appendages like fingers, hands, or toes, gladly took the reprieve. One Menhitte in particular with a sliced in half mask, a notched ear, and a nasty gash starting from its shoulder and stretching all the way down to its hip picked itself up and glared at the scientist. It wanted nothing more than to just go up there and maul Arthur, but stayed its hand due to knowing how it would be slain by both Arthur and Salem.

"Hazel, I believe it's your turn to whip them into shape," Arthur hollered into the dark and suddenly, the Grimm felt the ground shake and cautiously peered into the dark as a giant bear of a man slowly stepped into the light.

"Kill them," Salem ordered her servant in a tone of voice that made it seem as if she was asking what ice cream she wanted causing Hazel to reach into the pouches on his hips and pull out lightning and fire dust crystals.

"As you wish," Hazel replied as he stuck the both dust crystals into his arms making him double over before he let out a roar at the top of his lungs as his veins pulsated and glowed in a reddish-yellow hue. With a war cry, the brute launched himself at the Grimm and fired a sphere of fire from his fist then an orb of electricity which the Menhittes dodged save for two where one had their head fried by the shock complete with its eyes popping out and then its skull exploding into bloody, black chunks. The other had its entire face burnt to a crisp, completely disintegrating the skin and revealing the flesh underneath, making its cohorts widen their eyes before they launched themselves en masse at the giant. Despite this show of force, Hazel remained calm and when one of the Menhittes was in range, slugged right on the snout causing its entire face to fold inwards with a wet squelch while the resulting shock wave from his punch knocked the rest of the horde back.

Five of their number were torn asunder by the kinetic energy outpouring from the punch making the survivors spare a glance at their fallen comrades only to have to leap up into the air to avoid fast moving waves of fire and lightning running along the ground. One of them, however, wasn't fast enough as it was simultaneously charred to a crisp and then outright vaporized causing some of the Menhittes to blindly charge at Hazel upon landing on the ground. Before the battle scarred Menhitte could order them back, Hazel viciously backhanded one across the face causing its eye to depress into its head and chunks of black flesh to fly from its face. Another had its head crushed as if it was a grape in Hazel's giant hand while another Menhitte had its chest caved in from a forceful kick from the giant brute's foot. When one Menhitte tried to chomp on Hazel's head, the giant used his forearm to block and felt like the teeth was simply poking him as he grabbed the Menhitte's jaws and pried them apart with a sickening crack to the point the Grimm was gruesomely torn in half.

Tossing the corpse of the Menhitte aside, he launched a continuous stream of fireball after fireball and lightning bolt after lightning bolt in an unending onslaught which the Grimm avoided by zig-zagging, rolling, or sprawling to the ground. The battle scarred Menhitte, however, caught one of the lightning bolts and violently crashed against the wall due to the kinetic energy behind the projectile making it grimace as a pain that it never felt in its short life surged throughout its body. Even with its black coat, the severe burn marks it suffered on its arms, torso, and neck were visible to all as it tossed the lightning bolt back at Hazel who staggered slightly. This was all the opportunity the battle scarred Menhitte needed as it rushed up to Hazel and forced the giant to the ground with a stiff kick to the side of his knee making him grunt.

"I believe we found our field leader, ma'am," Arthur stated with an impressed nod as Hazel blocked the follow swipe to his face and forced his foe back with a devastating palm heel strike to the chest only to wince as a clawed kick from the Grimm scraped across his face. As his attention was elsewhere, his head suddenly snapped back when one of his fireballs was thrown back at him making him yowl and then glare at the offending Menhitte who was surging toward him as fast as it could.

"And our second in command," the scientist added causing Salem to say nothing as she watched the potential second feint a lunge at Hazel before trying to stab him in the eye with its tail. Snarling, Hazel caught the pointed tip of bone in his glove like hand only to grimace as the Menhitte planted its foot against his face making him relinquish his grip, but landed a solid punch to the lioness' chest while reeling. Yowling, the potential second flew backwards and brutally collided against a pillar that broke apart with a loud bang which trapped both the battle scarred Menhitte and the battered lioness underneath the rubble.

"If they survive," Salem retorted to which Arthur deferentially said "Of course, ma'am." as Hazel grabbed two Menhittes by the neck and completely atomized them when they lunged at his face. Before the giant could continue his assault, he hobbled backwards when a boulder collided against his chest causing him to hone in on the source and saw the battered Menhitte glaring right at him. Gritting his teeth, the giant charged at the Grimm with a war cry and when he was mere inches from it, the battle scarred Menhitte emerged from its hiding place behind a pillar and savagely smash a boulder across his face as if it were a wrecking ball. Grunting, the giant was tripped by the Grimm's tails sending Hazel sprawling to the ground. Before the battle scarred Menhitte could stomp on his face, he released a maelstrom of searing hot, fiery electricity that consumed the arena with a loud, bestial howl. The survivors, however, jumped into the air in time and clung to the pillars before they could be disintegrated and dropped to the ground when the electrical storm passed. Surrounding the giant, the lionesses cautiously moved in as Hazel got back up and charged at the battle scarred Menhitte who met him head on with the potential second.

"That's enough, Hazel," Salem ordered just as the giant's fist was mere inches from the Grimm's face causing Hazel to cease his brutal onslaught and remove the dust crystals from his arms.

"I was happy to help, mistress," Hazel stated as he put the dust crystals back into his pouches and took his leave where the remaining Menhittes, eight in total, wondered if there were going to be more enemies like him.

"They're certainly fewer in number than the last squad; should we create more and add the...graduates to this batch?" the former scientist asked causing Salem to replay the events of every Menhitte pride she sent up until the recently slain one with the seer. The first pride got into the city of Atlas, the second got as far as the checkpoint leading to Atlas Academy, the third managed to get to the front gates, the fourth got onto campus for a few minutes before being gunned down, and the fifth would have gotten their hands on Fria had they been more careful. The fifth pride was the most successful, and the most numerous, while the fourth was second in that regard and only contained four members, the equivalent of a huntsmen team. The current pride standing before her seemed to be a compromise of the two and certainly hoped that was the case once they were out in the field.

"No, this batch will suffice," Salem replied as she floated down to the ground with the seer close behind and landed in front of the sixth pride who respectfully dipped their heads.

"Step forward," Salem commanded the sixth pride causing the Grimm to immediately comply where the seer suddenly stabbed its tendrils into each of the Menhitte's heads causing them to screech as images unceasingly flooded into their heads. Over the pain, the lionesses saw every decision the previous prides made, the results of said decisions, and how each and every one of their kin were killed. The seer removed the tendrils from the lioness' heads once the needed information was given causing the Menhittes to rub their fresh wounds as Salem placed her hand on the heads of the two lionesses that showed the most promise.

"Use this knowledge to succeed," Salem murmured while staring right into the eyes of the battle scarred Menhitte who nodded slowly as the mistress of Grimm then locked eyes with the battered Menhitte.

"Use this knowledge to check your leader's decisions and should they prove inadequate, take over in their stead," Salem whispered causing the lioness to blankly glance at the battle scarred Menhitte who looked back at it with a stoic, wooden gaze before nodding causing the mistress of Grimm to hold up a hand. The Grimm fell onto all fours and yowled as they felt as if a million bugs were crawling and gnawing their insides as their pitch black, dark as night coats turned into a vibrant white complete with changing their eyes and tongues a bright blue.

"Now go," Salem muttered as she floated into a dark corridor with the seer in tow causing the lionesses to look at Arthur who turned around and walked down a hallway as if expecting them to follow. Snarling, the Menhittes jumped onto the platform above and followed the scientist down the hallway for what seemed like an eternity before they were outside of the castle. Before the battle scarred Menhitte could inquire as to where they were going, the pride came to a stop in front of an Atlesian airship as Arthur opened the cargo hold and gestured for them to get in all while never losing his smug, arrogant grin. Without giving a gesture of acknowledgement, the lionesses entered the aircraft only for the battle scarred Menhitte to pause, turn its head, and glare at Arthur with its teeth barred which brought no end of amusement to the scientist.

"If something is wrong, we can...discuss our differences," Arthur offered while moving his coat aside which showed off his revolver causing the lioness to glower at the scientist and crouch down as if it was on the hunt, but regained its composure and trudged onto the aircraft. Laughing all the way to the cockpit, Arthur closed the cargo hold and manned the controls where airship hovered into the air before flying off into the distance. The Menhittes, meanwhile, took the time to rest and review the information Salem gave them while the battle scarred Menhitte and its second locked eyes with each other. Just as it looked like they were going to fight it out to see who would lead, the Grimm walked over to a separate corner of the cargo hold and laid down next to each other with the second resting its chin atop the battle scarred Menhitte's head.


End file.
